Important Takeaways:

• The United States condemned Wednesday what it called “dangerous maneuvers” by China after a Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
• The incident took place Tuesday morning local time as a plane belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was flying what Philippine officials said was a routine low-altitude patrol over the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll that is mostly underwater but is rich in fish stocks.
• Video shared by the Philippine coast guard showed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army navy helicopter hovering above and to the left of the Philippine plane before moving away again in an effort to push the plane out of what Beijing says is its airspace.
• In a call with his Philippine counterpart last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored the “ironclad” U.S. commitment to the Philippines, which it is obligated to defend, and said he shared the Philippines’ concern about China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea.
• The Philippine plane was carrying personnel from the Philippine coast guard, as well as multiple journalists, officials said.
• “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and it endangers the lives of our crew and passengers,” the video shows the pilot of the Philippine plane telling the Chinese navy helicopter by radio.
• The Philippine government said it would issue a formal diplomatic protest over the incident.
• The Chinese military disputed the Philippines’ account, saying the plane had illegally entered Chinese airspace and that the Philippines had “distorted the facts and spread false narratives.”
• In a dispute brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in The Hague said in 2016 that Beijing’s South China Sea claims were invalid, a ruling that China has never accepted.

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