China’s military has insisted electronic jamming was not responsible for two recent US military air accidents in the South China Sea, suggesting instead that the American armed forces were to blame for their misfortunes.
Advertisement
On Monday, state broadcaster CCTV aired a report that denied that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had caused a fighter and helicopter launched from the USS Nimitz to crash in the South China Sea last month.
On October 26 an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other.
The US does not usually look to internal problems in sensitive areas but looks “at causes and effects with ideological bias”, Wang Mingzhi, a researcher from the PLA’s Air Force Command College, told the broadcaster.
“The [electronic jamming] theory is trying to stir up confrontation and speculating from the perspective of great power rivalry.
Advertisement
“To raise these conspiracy theories is trying to shift the focus of the issue from itself to the other side.”
Zhang Xuefeng, another military analyst who spoke to the broadcaster, cited President Donald Trump’s suggestion that “bad fuel” may have been behind the accidents.