China rejects US aircraft surveillance over South China Sea

BEIJING - China's military rejected US claims on China's "unsafe" intercept of an American Navy reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, and demanded the US ends such action.

Yang Yujun, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, told a press conference that China's aircraft acted professionally and in line with a China-US encounter safety code agreed by both sides.

Yang said America's frequent reconnaissance over Chinese waters is a real source of danger for China-US military safety.

Yang said the agreement only provides a technical regulation, and the best solution was for the US to stop such action.

The Pentagon claimed two Chinese J-11 fighters unsafely intercepted a US EP-3 Aries aircraft on May 17 which was conducting routine operations in international airspace.