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Chinese fighter jets performed unusually dangerous maneuvers near Taiwanese F-16 aircraft during the “Justice Mission” military exercise conducted by the People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan in December.

The maneuvers included a J-16 fighter firing flares at a Taiwanese aircraft during the exercise, according to people familiar with the incidents and a Taiwanese defense ministry report shared with the US military.

A person reported the incidents, which happened on December 29said the “dangerous and provocative” acts followed a pattern of aggressive behavior toward China’s neighbors in recent months.

In the first incident, a J-16 jet shot decoy fired at a Taiwanese F-16 that was scrambling as the Chinese warplane was about to cross the Taiwan Strait median line, said three people familiar with the encounter.

In the second, a Chinese J-16 flew “very close” behind a Taiwanese F-16 jet “basically in firing position”, said the person briefed on the incident.

The unprecedented actions did not rise to the level of danger reached when PLA aircraft locked their radar weapons on Japanese aircraft in early December, three people familiar with the incidents said.

But two people compared the first incident to a separate episode in December when a Chinese aircraft fired a flare at a Philippine patrol aircraft in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

In a third incident that took place northwest of Taiwan, a Chinese J-16 flew under a Chinese H-6K bomber, in a “piggybacking” tactic designed to disguise the fighter jet’s presence from Taiwan’s radars.

“When they were discovered, the Chinese pilot flipped his plane on its side and fired missiles under its belly,” said a person briefed on the incident.

Two people said it was similar to a trick used by Israel in 1976 during the so-called Entebbe raid when it flew soldiers into Uganda undetected to rescue hostages from a hijacked plane.

“This is not the behavior you expect from a professional fighter pilot but more like a gangster waving his gun as they walk down the street,” said a person familiar with the incidents.

Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said China’s military exercises should be seen as “rehearsals” for an attack on Taiwan.

In recent years, the PLA has greatly reduced its aggressive aerial interception of US aircraft but continues to target American allies.

In its latest Chinese military report – focused on 2024 – the Pentagon says that the PLA has “performed many unsafe, dangerous operational actions near allied aircraft in the past year”, including reckless acrobatic maneuvers and unloading chaff or flares near aircraft.

Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund, said the PLA has become “increasingly reckless” as it increases pressure on Taiwan. “The next likely step up the ladder is PLA aircraft operating within 12 nautical miles of Taiwan’s territorial airspace, which will further increase the risk of an accident.”

People familiar with the December incidents suggested that PLA pilots were being pushed to do things beyond normal training, in a possible sign that President Xi Jinping’s military purges could disrupt the PLA’s command.

“The more aggressive moves and the appearance of more unusual maneuvers like the one used in the 1976 Entebbe raid all point to a situation where pilots are being told to do things they wouldn’t normally do,” one of the people said.

Ann Kowalewski, a Taiwan expert at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, said Xi could also put more pressure on the PLA to achieve its goal of a military capable of seizing Taiwan next year.

“(That) could lead the PLA to shoulder more risk to show Xi that it is capable of more sophisticated military maneuvers, raising the possibility of clashes,” he said.

The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.