A Chinese fighter jet came within about 150 feet of a Japanese naval reconnaissance plane over the weekend, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Thursday, an action the US ambassador to Tokyo called “dangerous” and “reckless.” Saturday morning’s close encounter between the Japanese P-3C Orion, a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft and a J-15 jet fighter launched from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong occurred over international waters of the Pacific, according to a statement from Japan’s Defense Ministry. The encounter lasted about 40 minutes, as the Japan Maritime Self-Defense (JMSDF) force plane was on a surveillance mission, according to the statement. The Chinese jet came within 45 meters of the Japanese plane “horizontally,” the ministry said. Another close encounter between a Chinese fighter and a Japanese plane occurred Sunday, with the Chinese warplane passing about 900 meters (2,950 feet) directly in front of the flight path of a P-3C, the ministry statement said. “Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft could lead to an accidental collision,” it said. US Ambassador to Japan George Glass was blunter in his criticism. “The recent dangerous maneuver by a Chinese fighter jet that put Japanese crewmembers’ lives in peril,” Glass said in a post on X, sarcastically calling the incident “another of Beijing’s ‘good neighbor’ efforts.” “Whether it’s harassing Philippine ships, attacking Vietnamese fishermen, or firing flares at Australian aircraft, Beijing knows only reckless aggression,” Glass said.

Full story : Japan says Chinese fighter jet came within 150 feet of surveillance plane above Pacific.