U.S. military slams Chinese flights but says they posed no threat

The U.S. military said on Friday that Chinese military flights in the past week in the South China Sea "at no time" posed any threat to a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group in the region but fit a pattern of destabilizing and aggressive behavior by Beijing. "The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group closely monitored all People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF) activity, and at no time did they pose a threat to U.S. Navy ships, aircraft, or sailors," the U.S. military's Pacific Command said in a statement.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese aircraft did not come within 250 nautical miles of the U.S. Navy vessels.