Chinese jets are ‘flying threateningly close’ to our North Korea flights on UN mission

A Canadian military aircraft on a United Nations mission was repeatedly buzzed by Chinese fighters recently, and has resulted in diplomatic protests from Ottawa to Beijing.

First reported by the outlet Global News, these incidents were confirmed by the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday evening.

In a statement, the CAF said that “on several occasions during this most recent iteration of Operation Neon, interactions occurred between our Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora long-range patrol aircraft and aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)”.

Operation Neon is Canada’s contribution to a coordinated multinational effort to support the implementation of UN Security Council sanctions imposed against North Korea.

Global News reported there were nearly 60 such incidents of buzzing, where an aircraft flies threatening close to another, since Christmas.

In its statement, the CAF said the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighters “did not adhere to international air safety norms” and the “interactions” and were “unprofessional and/or put the safety” of the Royal Canadian Air Force personnel “at risk”.

In some instances, “aircrew felt sufficiently at risk that they had to quickly modify their own flight path in order to increase separation and avoid a potential collision with the intercepting aircraft”, the statement added.

The CAF release pointed to the buzzing episodes proving the latest flashpoint in relations between Canada and China. It said, “Such interactions, which occur in international airspace during UN-sanctioned missions, are of concern and of increasing frequency.

These occurrences have also been addressed through diplomatic channels.” Global News described the diplomatic exchange as “reprimands” to which China “is not believed to have responded.”

Relations between Canada and China have deteriorated in recent times, since senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver in 2018 on charges of allegedly defrauding a financial institution to bypass sanctions upon the Iranian regime.

Days later, two Canadians, including a former diplomat, were arrested by China. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau described that as “hostage diplomacy”.

After more than 1,000 days in captivity and being charged with spying, they were released in September last year in what was seen as an exchange of prisoners as Meng returned to China after agreeing to a plea deal with American prosecutors.

The Canadian Government announced last month it was banning two Chinese majors, Huawei and ZTE, from its advanced telecommunications network including 5G or fifth generation infrastructure.

CAF has deployed a CP-140 Aurora Maritime Patrol Aircraft along with support personnel to Kadena, Japan as part of Operation Neon.