J-16 fighter jets attached to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Western Theater Command taxi on the runway during an aerial combat training exercise under complex electromagnetic conditions in early April, 2021.(Photo: eng.chinamil.com.cn)

I would like to give a thumbs-up to the recent professional and precise interception by a PLA fighter jet. From the video footage released by the US military, a Chinese J-16 fighter jet cut directly in front of the nose of the US RC-135 reconnaissance plane, forcing the US plane to fly through the wake turbulence of the intercepting aircraft, and the US plane shook violently.

What is certain is that the US plane was very close to the Chinese mainland or the Chinese islands and reefs in the South China Sea at that time. This time, the cut-in and interception of the PLA fighter jet acted as a good deterrent, was aimed at deterrence, which made the US plane fully feel the risk. The US military said the Chinese jet "flew directly in front of and within 400 feet [121 metres] of the nose of the RC-135." In a similar incident in December last year, the PLA fighter jet was even closer. The US military is the most domineering military in the world today. The approach of its aircraft and warships to China's territory, territorial waters and airspace seriously threatens China's national security, and the PLA must resist it. In April 2001, a US reconnaissance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in the South China Sea, leading to a major crisis between China and the US at that time.

With the deepening of US involvement in the South China Sea and the increasing frequency of provocations, as well as the PLA's naval and air power and China's growing confidence, the confrontation between US aggression and China's countermeasures is bound to become more acute.

The PLA has nowhere to retreat, because behind it is China's territory, territorial waters and airspace. To resolve this tense situation, the US military must retreat, because behind it is not the territory, territorial waters, and airspace of the US, but rather the ambition and greed of the US to declare and show off its hegemony over a rising China.

The US military is manifesting that they will continue to go their own way in the future. Then they will continue to face the kind of thrilling confrontations that occurred on Friday. The US said the Chinese fighter jet flew within six meters of a US reconnaissance plane during an intercept in December. That is a risk they themselves triggered. They should be responsible for any incidents. 

The US military is showing the world how to say high-sounding words while doing the nastiest things. The US military has been complaining in  the past two days that China rejected its proposal for a meeting between the defense chiefs of the two countries during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and accused China of rejecting similar contacts suggested by the US for many times, as if the US is "very civilized" and China is "unreasonable." The truth is that the US has been imposing sanctions on the senior official of our military they want to meet with and has refused to lift the sanctions. The US is trying to make China accept the so-called rules that they can sanction whoever they want, and push military aircraft and warships as close as they want toward China, and pressure China to simply bow strategically.

They can only wish. China will not make any concessions to the US in terms of sovereignty and national dignity. We have made it very clear that we do not want conflict with the US, and are willing to restore normal relations between China and the US. Cooperation is win-win. Dialogue between the two sides is also carried out at many levels. The real problem is that the US often says one thing and does another. Under such circumstances, China's attitude, especially its determination to defend its sovereignty and dignity, must be displayed through actions. The PLA fighter planes intercepting the US reconnaissance plane and letting the latter enjoy the turbulence is a demonstration of this determination. Behind this fighter jet is not only China's growing national strength, but also the will of the entire Chinese military and the entire Chinese people to defy and take resolute actions against American hegemony.

The author is a commentator with the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn