US officials released a video of a Chinese fighter jet intercepting a US aircraft over the South China Sea. A former American aviator told Insider the incident highlights how Chinese pilots are "willing to challenge" the US in the area. "What we're witnessing is an increasingly competent and better trained Chinese flying cadre" that is "willing to challenge the US and allied flights occurring near the PRC air defense identification zone," retired Cmdr. The US says it documented more than 180 coercive or risky intercepts by Chinese aircraft since fall 2021. Two US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft sit parked on the flight line at MacDill Air Force Base in 2021.

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Persons: —, Guy Snodgrass, INDOPACOM, Snodgrass, isn't, Qian Baihua, Lauren Cobin Organizations: Pentagon, Service, US, Pacific Command, US Air Force, People's Liberation Army Air Force, Changchun Air Show, Changchun Dafangshen, Getty, East China Seas, North, America, US Department of Defense, China, People's, Army, MacDill Air Force Base Locations: South China, American, China, People's Republic of China, US, Chinese, South, Changchun, Changchun Dafangshen Airport, Jilin Province, East, Russian, Russia