U.S.: China Fighter Jet Unsafely Cut Off American Spy Plane

U.S. officials said a spy plane on a “routine patrol” in international airspace was “unsafely” intercepted Tuesday by two Chinese fighter jets over the East China Sea. The J-10 Chinese fighters cut off a U.S. Air Force RC-135 plane, Reuters reported. “Initial assessment is that this seems to be a case of improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred,” the U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. It was not clear how close the Chinese planes came to the American aircraft. China’s defense ministry said the U.S. was “deliberately hyping up the issue” and demanded an end to the flights.