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By Dan Lamothe and Missy Ryan
with Mikhail Klimentov

U.S. scolds China for refusing to talk after midair military encounter

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speak with members of Congress in mid-May. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday denounced China's apparent refusal to meet with senior Pentagon leaders after an incident U.S. officials have described as an "unnecessarily aggressive" encounter between military aircraft over the South China Sea last week.

Video released Tuesday by the U.S. military depicts a twin-engine J-16 Shenyang fighter jet crossing what appears to be several dozen feet in front of an Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane. The 30-second clip, recorded Friday from within the American aircraft's cockpit, shows the crew being bounced around as they fly through the Shenyang's wake.

Blinken, speaking during a visit to Sweden, said the "dangerous" incident "only underscores why it is so important that we have regular, open lines of communication, including by the way between our defense ministers," making reference to a Wall Street Journal report that China had rebuffed a request from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with his Chinese counterpart during a security summit in Singapore.

China has criticized the United States for its depiction of the incident.

"The most dangerous thing is not to communicate and, as a result, to have a misunderstanding and miscommunication," Blinken said. "While we have a real competition with China, we also want to make sure that doesn't veer into … conflict."

The RC-135, which is used to gather radio communications and other electronic intelligence, was flying in international airspace, officials with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement released in tandem with the video. The United States, they said, will continue to fly, sail and operate safely "wherever international law allows."

"We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region," the U.S. statement said, "to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law."

China responded with accusations that the United States has endangered its national security by conducting regular close-up reconnaissance using ships and planes. "Such provocative and dangerous actions are the root cause of security issues at sea," Mao Ning, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said during a news briefing.

The intercept, at least the second such incident since late last year, occurred as relations between China and the United States remained fraught. Both countries are vying for additional partners in the region amid tensions over Taiwan, and China's other regional ambitions have raised alarm in Washington and among U.S. allies in the Pacific.

Just days before this most recent midair encounter, the United States and Papua New Guinea signed a new defense cooperation agreement that will bring the two nations closer and allow their militaries to train together. A separate agreement was signed last year between China and the Solomon Islands, raising speculation that China may seek to build a military base there.

Tensions between the two powers spiked earlier this year after U.S. officials' discovery of a Chinese surveillance airship over the United States. The balloon entered American airspace over Alaska and flew for days across the country, including near sensitive military sites, before being shot down by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that the airship was part of a vast surveillance program run by the Chinese military. After the airship appeared over the United States, Blinken canceled a highly anticipated visit to Beijing, and Chinese officials rebuffed requests for Austin to speak with senior Chinese officials. Chinese officials said the airship was a weather balloon blown off-course, but the Biden administration has rejected that explanation.

In the months since, Blinken had indicated that he had hoped to reschedule his visit to Beijing, telling The Washington Post earlier in May that "there's a clear demand signal from around the world that we manage this relationship responsibly."

"If there are areas where we can actually cooperate, because it's in the interest of our people, Chinese people and people around the world, so much the better," he said. "But at the very least we need to have a floor under this relationship. We need to have some guardrails on it."

Read on site: U.S. scolds China for refusing to talk after midair military encounter

1,000 Words

Peru is taking extraordinary measures such as banning households from filling vases with water, as it battles its worst dengue outbreak on record, a crisis that experts have linked to increased rainfall and warmer temperatures as the climate changes.

The outbreak is a warning sign for countries in the tropics, where dengue and other insect-borne illnesses are increasingly prevalent as a rapidly changing climate brings more instances of warm and wet weather, which provide ideal breeding conditions for mosquito hosts. At its worst, dengue can cause high fevers, serious organ failure and death. (Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images)

Talking Points

• Two female Iranian journalists went on trial behind closed doors this week for their reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini. The Kurdish woman, 22, died in the custody of Iran's "morality police" last year. Elahe Mohammadi, a reporter with Ham-Mihan newspaper, and Niloofar Hamedi, of Shargh newspaper, brought early attention to the story, which set off widespread protests and a broader movement to end clerical rule.

• Several hours after dozens of enemy drones infiltrated the Russian capital, damaging two residential buildings, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared unfazed before reporters, acting as if nothing unusual had happened. Putin's nonchalant attitude, and a similarly muted statement by the Kremlin on Wednesday, showed the Russian leadership doing its utmost to project a sense of calm and control, despite the brazen drone attack.

• A surveillance camera captured the final, horrifying, moments of a 16-year-old girl in India: A man shoved her against a wall before stabbing her repeatedly until she fell to the ground, lifeless. Several people walked by during the attack, which was over in less than two minutes. But only one person even tried to intervene before running away. Most moved past the violent assault. The public murder is the latest example of the gruesome violence against women that continues to plague India.

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Portrait of a prison

An outside view of Lefortovo prison. (Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images)

For decades, Lefortovo prison has been a symbol of oppression and control in Russia, especially for those who dare to challenge power. It is within these walls that American journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March, remains detained, awaiting trial on espionage charges — which he, the White House and Gershkovich's employer, the Wall Street Journal, strongly deny.

Lefortovo serves as a pretrial detention center. Still, prisoners can spend years there. Based on descriptions from inmates, lawyers and prison monitors, including letters and sketches, as well as documentaries and photos of Lefortovo, The Post built a portrait of what life is like inside the prison.

Each nearly identical cell is approximately eight square meters, no larger than 85 square feet. A small, barred window with limited natural light can be opened using a special lever, allowing prisoners to see part of the sky. The toilet offers little privacy. A tiled half-wall separates it from the nearest bed in the cramped cell. There is also a sink, a refrigerator and at least one wall cabinet for storing food purchased from the prison store or delivered by family members. A table and chair are bolted to the floor. And there is a TV, which only broadcasts state channels.

"In Lefortovo, its well-established regime and the behavior of the staff suppresses you; from the very first minute, they make it clear that you are nothing, that you are alone here and completely at the mercy of this prison, and that the way out of it is possible only through complete submission to the system that it serves," wrote Valentin Moiseyev, a Russian diplomat who was accused of espionage in 1998 and spent 3½ years in Lefortovo. — Mary Ilyushina, Francesca Ebel and Júlia Ledur

Read on: Inside the notorious Russian jail holding U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich

And for more: Russia's Lefortovo prison is a relic of Soviet control that never left