China calls on US to stop surveillance activities

Chinese Foreign Ministry has asked the United States to immediately stop its naval surveillance activities in China's territorial airspace.

This came as a response to complaints from the US officials about Chinese fighter jets intercepting a US Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea on Sunday.

Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a daily briefing on Tuesday that US Navy aircraft have frequently approached China's territorial waters to conduct surveillance activities, which had seriously threatened China's territorial security, reports the Global Times.

"The US should immediately stop relevant close surveillance activities, which could also help avoid the occurrence of similar incidents again," Lu said.

Lu noted that China has safeguarded the order and security of the flights over seas in accordance with the international law and rules and is committed to establishing military trust with other countries to properly control disputes.

Earlier in the day, Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense said about the incident, "The close-in reconnaissance of the U.S. aircraft threatened China's national security, damaged the military safety between two countries and put the pilots of both countries in danger. This is a source of danger for China-U.S. military safety."

Ren stressed that the United States should immediately stop these kinds of dangerous military actions, calling them unsafe, unprofessional and unfriendly.