OVER THE SCARBOROUGH SHOAL, South China Sea — A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, prompting the Filipino pilot to warn by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous."
The Chinese helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turboprop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
An Associated Press journalist and other invited foreign media on the plane witnessed the tense 30-minute standoff as the Philippine plane pressed on with its low-altitude patrol around Scarborough with the Chinese navy helicopter hovering close above it or flying to its left in cloudy weather.
“You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and endangering the lives of our crew and passengers,” the Philippine pilot told the Chinese navy helicopter by radio at one point. “Keep away and distance your aircraft from us, you are violating the safety standard set by FAA and ICAO.”
The pilot was referring to the standard distance between aircraft required by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization to prevent air disasters.
There was no sign that the Philippine plane had to alter its planned path and altitude to avoid a collision.
The Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries said in a statement that they remain “committed to asserting our sovereignty, sovereign rights and maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, despite the aggressive and escalatory actions of China."
They referred to the Philippine name for the stretch of waters in the South China Sea closer to the Philippines’ western coast.
The Chinese military, referring to Scarborough Shoal by its Chinese name, said the plane had “illegally entered the airspace of China’s Huangyan Island without the Chinese government’s permission."
The Chinese Southern Theater Command organized naval and air forces to track and warn the plane away, Senior Col. Tian Junli, spokesperson for the command, said in a written statement posted online.
The Philippines “confused right and wrong and spread false narratives,” the statement said.
Tuesday's encounter, which is expected to be protested by the Philippine government, is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long territorial standoff in one of the world’s busiest trade routes, which involves China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan .
Confrontations on the high seas have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the last two years at Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoal, where a grounded Philippine navy ship has served as a military territorial outpost since 1999 but has since been closely surrounded by Chinese coast guard, navy and other ships.
China deployed its naval force around Scarborough after a tense standoff with Philippine ships in 2012.
The following year, the Philippines brought its disputes with China to international arbitration. A 2016 decision by a United Nations-backed arbitration panel invalidated China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea based on the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
China, a signatory to the UNCLOS like the Philippines, refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected its outcome and continues to defy it.
Faced by China's military might, the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has resorted to a shame campaign — embedding Philippine and foreign journalists in its sea and air patrols in a bid to expose Beijing's increasingly assertive actions.
The Philippines has also been strengthening its security alliances with the United States, Japan, Australian, France, Canada, the European Union and other Western countries to shore up its external defense.
The United States says it's obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea. China has warned the U.S. and its allies not to meddle in what it calls a purely Asian dispute.
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Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.
