SO, it’s not a civilian aircraft that has been observed rounding the southwestern coast of China a number of times recently but actually planes of the United States military on espionage missions.

On September 16, spokesman Wang Wenbin of the Chinese foreign ministry claimed that the US military was using International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) hex codes of other countries to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China’s coast. ICAO hex codes are an internationally accepted mode of identifying the various aircraft of countries of the world. According to the Chinese official, the US military planes fake their ICAO hex codes to make themselves appear civilian when subjected to standard checks.

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