Full coverage: South China Sea Is Indisputable Part of China

China's Defense Ministry has asked the US to stop conducting reconnaissance activities close to China to prevent hazardous incidents. Spokesperson Yang Yujun was responding to US claims that two Chinese jet fighters last week unsafely intercepted one of its spy planes over the South China Sea.

"The US spy plane flew close to the airspace of China's Hainan island for espionage purposes. The Chinese military aircraft conducted identification and verification in accordance with the relevant regulations and rules. The manoeuvres of the Chinese jet fighters was in line with professional standards and with the rules of behavior for safety of maritime and air encounters reached by China and the US. The US always likes to distort facts and draw media attention to the distance between the military aircraft of the two sides. But in essence, the root cause for the security hazard in the air and at sea between the two countries is the long-term, large scale and frequent close reconnaissance against China by US military vessels and aircraft," Yang said.