El gobierno de Filipinas acusó el sábado a las fuerzas aéreas de China de lanzar bengalas contra una de sus aeronaves que realizaba una misión de patrullaje en el disputado mar de China Meridional.
A Chinese fighter jet "engaged in irresponsible and dangerous manoeuvres" on August 19 as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane made a "maritime domain awareness flight" near Scarborough Shoal, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said.
The unprovoked Chinese "harassment" included "deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 metres from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft", the task force added in a statement.
Flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was "monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas" of the Philippines, it added.
