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China urges US to stop close-in reconnaissance

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China urges US to stop close-in reconnaissance - CCTV News - CCTV.com English
CCTV.com 08-29-2014 06:42 BJT

BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Defense Ministry has accused the U.S. military of "close-in reconnaissance" in China's airspace in response to U.S. criticism of a Chinese jet intercepting a U.S. Navy patrol plane last Tuesday.

U.S. reconnaissance can easily trigger miscalculation or cause sea and air accidents, Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said at a regular news briefing.

He warned that "If the United States does not want to affect bilateral ties, it must reduce and ultimately stop such reconnaissance."

U.S. CLOSE-IN RECONNAISSANCE, NOT CHINESE INTERCEPT

It is not "a Chinese intercept" but "U.S. close-in reconnaissance."

"The site of the incident is 220 km from China's Hainan Island, rather than the same distance from Hawaii or Florida of the United States," Yang said.

The Pentagon had claimed China's interception was "dangerous."

"What I need to stress is that the U.S. side has kept talking about the technical issues like the distance between the two aircraft, but ignored a policy issue of highly frequent close-in reconnaissance against China," Yang said.

According to the spokesman, one U.S. anti-submarine plane and one patrol aircraft flew into airspace about 220 km east of China's Hainan Island on the morning of Aug. 19, at which point a Chinese fighter jet took off to identify the aircraft in a standard operation.

"The United States calls it an 'unsafe and unprofessional intercept' and 'Chinese provocation,'" Yang said. "But indeed the Chinese pilot's operation is professional and has taken safety into consideration.

"As a developing country, China values its aircraft and pilots' lives, certainly compared to some countries that have their military pilots fly close to other's doorsteps on a daily basis."

COUNTERMEASURE AGAINST RECONNAISSANCE

Yang said that U.S. aircraft has conducted frequent reconnaissance missions against China for a long time, which has "gravely undermined China's security interests as well as China-U.S. strategic mutual trust and bilateral ties."

The U.S. State Department argued on Monday that its reconnaissance was transparent and that it had informed China. But Yang denied that, saying China had never received any information about such reconnaissance from the United States.

Yang stressed a wrongdoing, whether it is transparent or informed, does not change its nature. ' China has lodged complaints to the U.S.and made clear its stance on close-in reconnaissance through multiple channels, including diplomacy.

China is closely monitoring the U.S. military's reconnaissance activities, Yang said. He warned that the country will take corresponding measures to protect national sea and air security in accordance with the extent of the threat.

Asked to comment on the possibility that China should take similar actions against the U.S. if the U.S. does not stop reconnaissance, Yang said China enjoys navigation and overflight freedom in line with the international laws.

"As to the specific operations Chinese vessels and planes will take in the future, it needs to be decided by taking all things into consideration," Yang said.

HALT RECONNAISSANCE TO AVOID MISCALCULATION

The U.S. reconnaissance against China is large-scale, highly frequent recent and up-close in recent years, especially when the Chinese military holds sea and air drills.

"The U.S. is often an unexpected visitor, sometimes even intrude into the training or exercise area that China has announced," Yang said. "Such behavior can easily trigger miscalculation or cause sea and air accidents."

If the United States does not want to affect bilateral ties, it must reduce and ultimately stop such reconnaissance, said the spokesman.

Military-to-military contact was long regarded as the weakest link in the China-U.S. relationship. Both sides are striving to enhance mutual trust.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to establish a mutual notification for major military activities and a standard of behaviors for air and sea safety.

A Chinese delegation will attend a bilateral consultation in the U.S. on the standards of behavior for air and sea safety from Aug. 25 to 29, according to Yang.

"This is a very important step," Yang said. "We are willing to work with the U.S. to promote progress on the consultation."
 
US Department of State,
Daily Press Briefing: August 25, 2014

QUESTION: Okay. And then just to clarify on an earlier question, the – in response to the Chinese statement that these kinds of incidents are being caused by excessive U.S. surveillance flights in the region, what would be your direct response to that?

MS. PSAKI: I would say that we would disagree with that. We operate in a transparent manner and we make other countries, including China, aware of our plans. This was a case where we were concerned about, as my colleagues at the Department of Defense outlined, the proximity and the lack of transparency that took place in this case, and that’s why we expressed concerns through multiple channels.

QUESTION: When you say made them aware of their – your plans, are you – do you notify the Chinese when you plan specific surveillance flights or --

MS. PSAKI: I was referring, broadly speaking, to our engagement in the zone, in the air zone.

QUESTION: Okay. Fair enough.

QUESTION: So does this actually include it? Does this actually include it? Have you notified China?

MS. PSAKI: I am just not going to have any more details on this particular topic.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: And finally --

MS. PSAKI: We’re going to move on. Go ahead.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask if you notified the identified --

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have anything more. If there’s more to share with all of you, I will make it available.

QUESTION: Just one more.

MS. PSAKI: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Is it okay if China send their fighter jets to Hawaii transparently? Is that okay with you?

MS. PSAKI: I’m just not going to speculate on steps that are taken. This was a specific incident we expressed concerns about. We expressed them directly to the Chinese. I think I’m going to leave it at that.

Go ahead in the back.

QUESTION: Can I move on to Japan, please?
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For the life of me, I could not understand what transparent/Notify meant by Ms. Psaki. Maybe some Vogon can come by PDF and enlighten me?
 
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I have a question for members who happen to have good knowhow of these things @Oscar @Aeronaut @fatman17 @gambit

Satellite imagery has improved tremendously in past several years. Not only optical but IR, UV and others sophisticated modes are used to observe movement/activity on the ground with very high resolution. Why then there is a need of close-in-reconnaissance using manned or unmanned reconnaissance aircrafts?
 
I have a question for members who happen to have good knowhow of these things @Oscar @Aeronaut @fatman17 @gambit

Satellite imagery has improved tremendously in past several years. Not only optical but IR, UV and others sophisticated modes are used to observe movement/activity on the ground with very high resolution. Why then there is a need of close-in-reconnaissance using manned or unmanned reconnaissance aircrafts?

Signals intelligence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Our interceptors are all over them. Nice. Now we just need a South China Sea ADIZ.
 
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