China Insists US Spy Plane Intelligence Flights End

China is insisting that USAF spy plane intelligence operations carried out close to Chinese territory come to an end, citing security concerns.

According to China, these airborne security missions have "severely harmed" issues of trust. According to the Pentagon, however, they'll continue as normal.

The situation follows news coverage that appeared in Taiwan last month concerning claims that a pair of Chinese Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 fighters intercepted a Lockheed U-2 spy plane performing a data acquisition mission over the Taiwan Strait.

The Chinese Defence Ministry in Beijing has urged the US to stop flying its aircraft in this way, with the Global Times publication quoting it as having stated: "We demand that the US respects China's sovereignty and security interests, and take concrete measures to boost a healthy and stable development of military relations."

"I can say that we fly reconnaissance missions in international airspace routinely and it is not unusual that [China] scrambles fighters", Colonel Dave Lapan, representing the Pentagon, told media representatives in a statement on the US spy plane flight at the end of July 2011.

"It's our view that this is a freedom of navigation issue, that we operate in international waters and international airspace."

Last month's Chinese and USAF aircraft encounter apparently saw one Chinese jet enter Taiwanese airspace, thus creating a separate potential security issue, according to reports emanating from Taiwan itself.

Chinese and US relations have been rocked in recent years by the two nation's positions on Taiwan, well predating the latest USAF intelligence flight over China.

The US is bound by a 1979 agreement that compels it to support Taiwanese military growth for self-defence purposes. Therefore, it's sold it various arms over the past three decades, most recently Lockheed Martin Patriot SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles).

China, on the other hand, considers itself the true owner of Taiwan, which is self-governing and, in the past, has not ruled out the idea of using military force to recapture it.

Security concerns have been especially keenly felt as a result of China's fast-paced military build-up, which includes its expanding naval capability.

Security Technology will return to the issue of military intelligence and airspace in future News coverage.

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