Beijing has hit back at Canberra after Australia demanded answers as to why a Chinese warplane dropped flares on a Royal Australian Air Force surveillance aircraft.

No one was injured and there was no damage to Australia's P-8A surveillance jet after Tuesday's incident, the ministry said. But China said the Australian aircraft "intentionally intruded" into its airspace and that the Chinese fighter jet responded in a "legitimate,

Australia protested Thursday what it described as an unsafe and unprofessional interaction over the South China Sea where a Chinese fighter is accused of releasing flares that endangered an Australian military surveillance plane.

In a tense and potentially dangerous encounter in the South China Sea, a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to an Australian military plane. The incident, described by Australian Defence officials as “unsafe and unprofessional,

Accusation comes after Australia says a Chinese military jet conducted ‘unsafe’ manoeuvres over international waters.

Australia has raised concerns with China over what it said was “unsafe and unprofessional” actions by a Chinese fighter jet towards an Australian maritime patrol in the South China Sea on Tuesday. (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was conducting a routine surveillance patrol in international waters in the South China Sea when a Chinese PLA J-16 fighter jet released flares within 100 feet of the RAAF aircraft,