China responds to US complaint over plane intercept with demand for end to surveillance flights

BEIJING (AP) — China has responded to complaints from the United States about a Chinese fighter jet’s dangerous interception of an American Air Force plane in international airspace over the South China Sea by demanding an end to such flights. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a daily briefing Wednesday that China would keep taking measures it deems necessary to safeguard its sovereignty. China says it owns the strategic waterway. But that claim is not recognized internationally and is directly challenged by Southeast Asian nations along the sea’s coast. In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. military said the pilot of a Chinese J-16 fighter jet flew directly in front of the nose of the RC-135 conducting routine operations Friday in international airspace.