“Pentagon officials are investigating why one of two B-52s on the mission last week flew closer than planned to Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands, an area where China and its neighbors have competing territorial claims,” the Wall Street Journal said in a report.
The report cited a senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, as saying that bad weather had been involved, causing the pilot to lose his bearings and stray into air space claimed by China.
The newspaper noted that the Chinese government brought the incident to the attention of Washington when it filed a formal diplomatic complaint with the US Embassy in Beijing.
China’s Defense Ministry said two B-52s had trespassed into Beijing’s airspace on December 10 around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and People’s Liberation Army forces kept them under close surveillance and warned them to leave.
