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By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States charged on Friday that a Chinese fighter pilot conducted a "dangerous intercept" of a Navy patrol plane in international air space this week, flying a few yards (meters) from the U.S. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the United States lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Beijing over the incident, which took place on Tuesday 135 miles (215 km) east of Hainan Island, site of a sensitive Chinese submarine base. Kirby said the Chinese fighter jet made several passes at the P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine and reconnaissance plane, crossing over and under it. "And it is certainly not in keeping with the kind of military-to-military ... relations that we'd like to have with China." In April 2001, a similar aggressive intercept of U.S.More...