Canada military accused Chinese warplanes of harassing aircraft

Beijing on Monday accused Canadian warplanes of stepping up reconnaissance against the Chinese military, and defended the actions of PLA aircraft as “reasonable” and “professional”.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Beijing had made solemn representations to Ottawa via diplomatic channels.

The protest came after the Canadian Armed Forces last week accused China of harassing its pilots while they monitored potential sanction breaches by Pyongyang, forcing the Canadian planes to divert from their flight paths on several occasions to avoid collision.

Canada’s aircraft were operating from Kadena Airbase in Japan between April 26 and May 26.

Ottawa said the incidents took place in international airspace, which Beijing has not disputed.

Wu said China urged the Canadian side to be aware of the seriousness of the situation, strictly restrain its frontline troops and refrain from risky and provocative behaviour, “otherwise, all serious consequences arising from it shall be borne by the Canadian side”.

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said China’s move was extremely troubling and he had ordered officials to raise it with their Chinese counterparts.

In a statement, Canadian armed forces spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said the incidents occurred during Operation Neon, Canada’s efforts towards enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

Wu said Canadian military planes “recently have been using the excuse of implementing UN Security Council resolutions” to step up reconnaissance and provocations against China and, in response to questions about the incident, he said they were “endangering China’s national security and the safety of frontline personnel on both sides”.

Without giving details such as the date, locations and how Chinese aircraft handled the encounter, Wu called Canada’s actions provocative, unfriendly and unprofessional, in contrast to his description of the PLA aircraft, which he said quickly took reasonable, powerful, safe and professional measures in response.

The encounters occurred amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, as Pyongyang continues to escalate its missile tests.

Since 2018, Canada has carried out missions to monitor and identify evasion of maritime sanctions by Pyongyang to support sanctions imposed between 2006 and 2017 to pressure North Korea into abandoning weapons of mass destruction programmes, according to the Canadian government website.

South Korea and the US launched eight missiles on Monday, following a volley of ballistic missiles fired by North Korea the previous day and Japan and the US conducted a joint military exercise on Sunday in response to the missile tests.

The alleged incidents were not the first tense encounters between Chinese and Canadian military craft. In 2019, two Chinese fighter jets buzzed a Canadian warship in the East China Sea.

And a Chinese fighter aircraft was accused of dangerously intercepting an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May, Australia’s defence department said on Sunday.

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