'Global Times', an affiliate of the CCP mouthpiece People's Daily, reacted to the Pentagon's announcement on August 22, 2014, that a US Navy P-8 was driven away by a Chinese J-11 fighter jet off Hainan Island on August 19, and blaming China for instigating "a provocative and dangerous midair encounter". The Global Times pointed to the Chinese military's denial of the allegations and said this incident was directly caused by the massive US surveillance operations against China. It recalled that in 2001, an in-flight collision between a Chinese interceptor and a US spy plane happened 100 kilometers off Hainan Island and a similar incident had now occurred 220 kilometers off the island. It warned that China will not stop this trend of pushing the range of US surveillance off the coastline. It said "Washington always argues that such short-range surveillance of China is conducted within international airspace and waters, and it has every right to do so. But China has made up its mind to force the US to back down from this so-called freedom. If private communications won't work, China has no choice but intercept these surveillance actions, which will increase Washington's risk of continuing such actions".

 

At the same time Global Times said "China is guarding its national security, and the US is enjoying a kind of complacence as a super power. If what happened in 2001 happened again, the consequences would probably be much worse. China would have to give up the golden period of strategic opportunity, but we don't know how the US would react. Washington must understand that Chinese society will do anything to protect its national security. We believe that maintaining dominance is what the US desires most in Asia, but it needs to act like it is playing a game with China, another major power, without showing too much aggression, because it will make the US exhausted". Reflecting the view of China's leadership, it concluded that "The US military has the power to sustain the US dominance internationally, but it is unable to command every country or nation. In East Asia, the US doesn't have the determination to be fully committed to things that are not in its core interests".