China has denied US allegations that two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American military plane earlier this week, saying that its aircrafts were acting " in accordance with the law" .   Current top breaking Philippine headlines regarding the nation, world, metro manila, regions and exclusive special investigative reports.<\/b>
\nChina has denied US allegations that two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American military plane earlier this week, saying that its aircraft were acting \u00ab\u00a0in accordance with the law\u00a0\u00bb. \u00ab\u00a0Related remarks from the US side are inconsistent with fact, \u00a0\u00bb the Chinese Ministry of Defense said in a statement posted to its website late Friday. \u00ab\u00a0On May 17, a US reconnaissance aircraft was carrying out an operation in airspace over the Chinese Yellow Sea (the northern part of the East China Sea) , and Chinese aircraft acted to identify and investigate in accordance with the law, \u00a0\u00bb the statement said, calling the action \u00ab\u00a0professional\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0safe\u00a0\u00bb. The US Air Force said in an earlier statement Friday that its plane, a WC-135 Constant Phoenix, was conducting a \u00ab\u00a0routine mission\u00a0\u00bb in international airspace when it was intercepted by two Chinese Sukhoi SU-30 fighter aircraft. The WC-135 is a so-called \u00ab\u00a0sniffer plane\u00a0\u00bb designed to scan the atmosphere for signs of nuclear activity. \u00ab\u00a0The WC-135 was operating in accordance with international law. While we are still investigating the incident, initial reports from the US aircrew characterized the intercept as unprofessional, \u00a0\u00bb the Air Force said. Mid-air interceptions occur routinely in international airspace, but the US military will often call out foreign pilots if it judges the manoeuvres to be risky or unprofessional. Meanwhile, China urged the US to halt such reconnaissance exercises in order to prevent future incidents. \u00ab\u00a0The American military’s frequent reconnaissance operations are the root cause of security issues between the Chinese and US navy and air forces, \u00a0\u00bb the Chinese defense ministry’s statement said.\u00a0 \u2014Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n