U.S. Spy Plane Intercepted By Chinese Jets Over Asian Waters

A U.S. spy plane conducting a routine patrol over international waters in the East China Sea Tuesday was intercepted by two Chinese fighter jets.

U.S. military officials in the Pacific told Reuters that one of the Chinese planes came within "an unsafe excessive rate of closure" to the U.S. aircraft, but blamed the incident on "improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred."

The altercation underscores the geopolitical power struggle in maritime Asia between the U.S.