[August 28, 2014]BEIJING (Reuters) - China on
Thursday urged the United States to cut back on, or even stop, its close
surveillance of the Asian giant using patrol aircraft, if it seriously
seeks to repair damaged bilateral ties.
Ties between the world's two largest economies have been strained
by competing territorial claims between China and its neighbors,
some of them U.S. allies, in the South China and East China seas.
The two countries have exchanged barbs over a jet intercept of a
U.S. navy patrol plane by a Chinese aircraft last week, with the
United States saying the Chinese jet came within 10 m. (33 ft) of
its plane over the sea.
"If the United States really hopes to avoid impacting bilateral
relations, the best course of action is to reduce or halt close
surveillance of China," Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said
in a statement on the ministry's website.
The U.S. patrols had "seriously harmed China's security interests",
he added.
The Pentagon has said the Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic
maneuvers around the U.S. Navy's P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine
reconnaissance plane in international airspace in the South China
Sea.
China has said the criticism by the United States, which filed a
diplomatic complaint with Beijing on Friday, is groundless and that
its pilot kept a safe distance.
Military officials from both countries held talks on rules of
behavior this week at the Pentagon, a U.S. official said.
The incident took place 220 km (137 miles) from China's southern
island province of Hainan, Yang said. Hainan is home to several
military bases, including one that houses a sensitive submarine
fleet.
China's pilots acted properly and took safety into account, Yang
added.
"Compared to those countries that let their pilots fly about at
other people's doorsteps, we certainly value the security of our
pilots and equipment more," he said.
The United States and China have differing views about the legality
of U.S. military overflights in much of the region as a result of
China's broad territorial claims and differing interpretations of
rights under the Law of the Sea treaty.
Yang blamed the U.S. patrols as being the root cause of unforeseen
air incidents.
"The U.S. is constantly nagging about the distance between both
countries' aircraft and technological issues and neglecting the
political problem of its high-frequency, close surveillance of
China."
China's sovereignty claims over the strategic stretch of
mineral-rich water off its southern coast and to the east of
mainland Southeast Asia set it directly against U.S. allies Vietnam
and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay
claim to parts of the disputed areas.
(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
