The People’s Liberation Army has disclosed that helicopter encounters with a foreign navy took place repeatedly over the East China Sea in which the two aircraft came as close as 10 metres from each other.
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The “provocations by foreign force” transpired 11 times over a period of 10 consecutive days, state broadcaster CCTV said in a report on Wednesday.
The report did not specify either the time or location of the encounters, nor did it reveal the identity of the “foreign force”.
But it said the Chinese helicopter was flown by Wang Ling, a pilot from the Ground Force aviation corps of the Eastern Theatre Command that oversees the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
“When I received the mission, I was ordered to take off combat-ready because some foreign force was approaching our coastline,” Wang was quoted as saying.
As tensions in the region’s airspace and sea run high, the PLA’s air force planes and naval warships in recent years have frequently engaged in close encounters with foreign aircraft and vessels, some of which were reportedly “dangerously close”.
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