A P8-A Poseidon aircraft sent by the U.S. military to contested islands in the South China Sea has been confronted by the Chinese navy. While flying over the Spratly Islands, the aircraft was called out by the Chinese navy eight times, demanding that the U.S. plane leave its airspace.
The Spratly Islands have been in the center of a heated territorial dispute between China and its regional rivals such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam. China's rivals are backed by the U.S., according to The Australian.
China has been in the process of constructing numerous military installations on the contested islands. The Pentagon has announced that the military will be carrying out surveillance flights to make it clear to China that the U.S. does not recognize China's territorial claims, according to CNN.
The presence of the U.S. aircraft was not appreciated by the Chinese navy, however.
"This is the Chinese navy ... This is the Chinese navy ... Please go away ... to avoid misunderstanding," the voice in English said through the radio. A CNN news crew was aboard the aircraft when the warnings were issued.
Lt. Commander Matt Newman, speaking from the cockpit of the P8-A, told CNN about the situation.
"There's obviously a lot of surface traffic down there: Chinese warships, Chinese coast guard ships. They have air search radars, so there's a pretty good bet they're tracking us," he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stated that China would not back down from the U.S., further emphasizing that the country is not fazed by the incident on the surveillance flight, according to The Australian.
"China has the right to engage in monitoring in the relevant airspace and waters to protect the country's sovereignty and prevent accidents at sea," he said.
"We hope the relevant country can earnestly respect China's sovereignty in the South China Sea," he added.
China claims sovereignty over 90 percent of the South China, which is widely believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits.
Watch the CNN Feature of the incident here:
