China fighter jets chase away 5 U.S. spy planes: report

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Ten Chinese fighter jets were despatched yesterday to warn off five U.S. reconnaissance planes carrying out a surveillance mission off the Chinese coast, the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po said in a report.	    Chinese military authorities immediately despatched the jets after the U.S. planes were located in an unidentified area in coastal China, the report said.	    "Under the close monitor of our aircrafts, the U.S. spy planes were eventually scampered out of China's coastal areas," the paper cited an unidentified source in Beijing as saying.	    The daily noted that it was the first such incident since a U.S. EP-3 spy plane, carrying 24 crew members, landed at a military base on the southern island of Hainan after a collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet.	    So far this year, some 63 U.S. surveillance aircraft have been detected in Chinese coastal areas, it said.	    Last year, the U.S. sent some 950 spy planes to carry out spying mission along the Chinese coast, the daily said. 

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