By Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY (Reuters) -A Chinese fighter jet endangered an Australian military helicopter during an “unsafe” and “unacceptable” clash in the Yellow Sea, Australia said on Monday.
The Chinese Air Force’s J-10 jet dropped flares above and several hundred meters in front of an Australian MH60R Seahawk helicopter that was on a routine flight Saturday into the Yellow Sea as part of an operation to impose sanctions against North Korea. , said Defense Minister Richard Marles. said in a statement.
The helicopter, flying from the destroyer HMAS Hobart, avoided the flares but the possible impact would have been “significant”.
“This is a very serious incident, it was unsafe and completely unacceptable,” he said.
“We formally expressed our concerns about this incident and formally expressed that this was unsafe and unprofessional.”
The confrontation put the aircraft and people on board at risk, although no one was injured, the Defense Department said in a separate statement.
This is the second incident of its kind in six months that has undermined what has been a growing rapprochement between the two countries, after years of tense relations and trade disputes.
Australia said in November that a Chinese ship injured some of its divers in Japanese waters using underwater sonar. China denied using its sonar, but Australia rejected the explanation.
HMAS Hobart continues to operate in the area despite Saturday’s clash, Marles said. Australia has participated in missions to enforce sanctions against North Korea in the region since 2018.
China’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson, editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Macfie)
