SHANGHAI – China’s defence ministry said on Saturday that a Canadian military helicopter with “unknown intentions” in the South China Sea violated Chinese and international laws.
The move also jeopardised China’s sovereignty and security, and was a “malicious” and “provocative” act with “ulterior motives”, a spokesman at the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry was responding to an accusation by Canada’s defence minister on Friday that Chinese warplanes buzzed the Canadian helicopter over international waters the previous weekend and fired flares at it, putting the crew in danger.
China’s response was professional and in line with norms, the spokesman said.
Friday’s comments by Defence Minister Bill Blair marked the second time in two weeks that Canada had accused China’s air force of unsafe behaviour.
In mid-October, Blair said a Chinese jet had come within five metres of a surveillance plane taking part in a UN operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea.
In the wake of that incident, Beijing said the Canadian plane had violated China’s sovereignty.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea and has ignored a ruling by an international arbitral body that the claim has no basis in historical fact. It has also built military facilities on a handful of reefs and islets in waters claimed by Southeast Asian countries.
On Friday, Blair said a Chinese jet had initially flown right over the Canadian helicopter on Oct 29, causing it to experience significant turbulence. Later that day another jet launched flares directly in front of the helicopter, forcing it to swerve to avoid being hit.
“These manoeuvres put the safety of all personnel involved in unnecessary risk,” he told reporters, saying Ottawa considered the actions by Chinese jets to be “significantly unsafe”.
The US military said on Oct 26 that a Chinese fighter jet came within three metres of a US Air Force B-52 bomber over the South China Sea in a nighttime manoeuvre that nearly caused a collision.
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said in response that “US military planes have traveled thousands of miles to show off their force at China’s doorstep, which is the root cause of sea and air security risks”.