China has accused the U.S. of violating a no-fly zone temporarily imposed over a PLA Navy live fire exercise yesterday with a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, issued the charge in response to the flight of the U-2 into an airspace used for live-fire exercises by the Northern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, reported Xinhua. The trespass severely affected China’s normal exercises and training activities, and violated the rules of behavior for air and maritime safety between China and the United States, as well as relevant international practices, said Wu. The U.S. action could easily have resulted in misjudgments and even accidents, said Wu, and stating that the move was an obvious provocation.
The PLA statement didn’t indicate where the airspace violation occurred, but a source close to the Chinese military told South China Morning Post that the U-2 had left from a military base in South Korea, and flew over the Bohai Gulf where China’s aircraft carrier, the Shandong, was taking part in the exercise.
