SYDNEY: Australia has raised issues with China following an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter between two army helicopters, the defence division stated on Friday (Mar 6).
An Australian army helicopter was flying over worldwide waters within the Yellow Sea when it was intercepted by a Chinese language helicopter on Wednesday, a press release stated.
The Chinese language helicopter matched the Australian plane’s altitude earlier than “closing in to an unsafe distance”, rising velocity after which rolling in direction of it, requiring the Australian crew to take “evasive motion”.
“This was an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre that posed a danger to our plane and its personnel,” the assertion stated.
Australia was endeavor a routine patrol within the Yellow Sea as a part of the worldwide effort to implement United Nations Safety Council sanctions towards North Korea, it stated.
No accidents have been reported within the encounter between the Folks’s Liberation Military-Navy helicopter and the plane of the Australian Defence Drive.
The incident is the newest in a collection of army encounters involving China that Australia has known as out publicly in comparable phrases.
In October, it additionally criticised as “unsafe and unprofessional” the actions of a Chinese language fighter jet that dropped flares close to considered one of its maritime patrol planes.
The Chinese language embassy didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
