The repeated harassment of a Canadian military plane by Chinese fighter jets in the North Pacific is “extremely troubling,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.
“We obviously take this situation very seriously, so we will be bringing it up directly with Chinese officials and counterparts and ensuring that this doesn’t continue to be part of an escalatory pattern,” Trudeau said while announcing a land-claims settlement with the Siksika Nation in Alberta.
The CP-140 was deployed from April 26 to May 26 at a Japanese air base.
The plane is used to monitor efforts by North Korea to evade sanctions by conducting ship-to-ship oil transfers. Once ships are identified, North Korea has to find new ones, which drives up the cost of its smuggling efforts.
While over international airspace, the CP-140 had “several interactions” with Chinese fighter jets, DND said.
“In some instances, the RCAF aircrew felt sufficiently at risk that they had to quickly modify their own flight path in order to increase separation and avoid a potential collision with the intercepting aircraft,” says a DND statement.
Op NEON is part of a U.S.-led multinational effort called the Pacific Security Maritime Exchange (PSMX), involving Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
It came about in 2018 to help enforce U.N. sanctions against North Korea that were imposed between 2006 and 2017 in response to its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile launches.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said on June 2 that she was “extremely preoccupied” by the reported incidents in the Pacific area involving Chinese aircraft.
When asked during a press conference if she considers the Chinese pilots’ actions a form of aggression, Joly said it was of significant importance and should be addressed.
She said she had her first conversation with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi around six weeks ago, noting it was the first political engagement since China’s arbitrary detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
The two were detained by Beijing in 2018 in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wangzhou, who the United States wanted to be extradited over fraud charges.
“Now our objective is to be able to have a diplomatic relationship with China and to be able to address difficult issues,” Joly said.
It appears other countries involved in PSMX have not publicly reported similar harassment by China. DND has said it doesn’t track nor would it comment on incidents affecting other military forces.
France’s Department of Defence told The Epoch Times that its Falcon 50M aircrafts involved in the mission have never been subjected to similar harassment from Chinese jets.
