China shows off mettle against US Navy plane in East China Sea

A U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane operating in international airspace during a routine mission over the East China Sea was intercepted by two Chinese fighter jets.

China once again showed its mettle in the disputed seas, forcing a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane take evasive action to avoid a possible mid-air collision.

One of the Chinese fighter jet came within 300 feet of the American aircraft over the East China Sea, U.S. officials said Monday.

The incident is the latest in series of incidents between the U.S. and Chinese militaries as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula.

In May, Chinese planes were involved in two similar incidents criticized by the Pentagon.

South China Sea underwater robot

The Chinese-developed underwater robot Tansuo conducted its maiden test dive in the disputed South China Sea on Monday.

The robot is 3.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and can dive to a depth of 4,500 meters. It will conduct 20 hours of collaborative operations with the unmanned submersible Faxian in the South China Sea.

In the first stage, 12 Chinese-developed underwater gliders carried out scientific observations in the South China Sea, sending back real-time data. It was the largest group of gliders ever to perform simultaneous observations in the region.

During the second stage of its mission, the unmanned submersible will carry a domestically developed Raman spectrometer to take physical and chemical measurements, and photograph organisms, said the China Times.