A Canadian general criticized the Chinese air force over an incident off the coast of the Asian nation where a fighter jet cut off a patrol plane and dropped flares in its path.
The episode on Monday was reported by Global News, which had journalists on the Canadian surveillance aircraft. Chinese fighters also flew within 5 meters (5.5 yards) of the plane, it added.
“They became very aggressive and to a degree we would deem it unsafe and unprofessional,” Major-General Iain Huddleston told the Canadian news outlet. Canada didn’t want to have “anything untoward happen that would result in loss of life,” he said.
The incident highlights China’s frustration over Western military flights near its shores, though they are carried out in international airspace. In May, the Pentagon said a Chinese fighter jet that swerved in front of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea behaved in an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.”