Australia accuses Chinese fighter jet of ‘unsafe conduct’ over South China Sea - The Chinese fighter is accused of releasing flares that endangered an Australian military surveillance plane

China in turn accused the Australian plane of "deliberately" intruding into airspace over the disputed Paracel Islands,

China has fired back at Australia's claims the People's Liberation Army acted unprofessionally during an aviation encounter with a RAAF aircraft.

While it has no claims to the South China Sea, Australia has aligned itself close to the US and its allies in saying that China's assertions have no legal basis. "Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner," the department said in a statement on Thursday.

Australia has raised concerns with China over what it said on Thursday were "unsafe and unprofessional" actions by a Chinese fighter jet towards an Australian maritime patrol in the South China Sea two days earlier,

Australia has accused the Chinese air force of an “unsafe and unprofessional interaction” with one of Canberra’s military aircraft over the South China Sea during a routine maritime surveillance operation.

Canberra criticised the ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ manoeuvre that posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel.

Australia has accused a Chinese fighter jet of almost hitting one of its surveillance planes with flares during an interaction earlier this week in international airspace over the South China Sea. The Australian government has expressed its concerns to Beijing about the incident,

Beijing swiftly hit back, accusing the Australian plane of "violating Chinese sovereignty and endangering Chinese national security".

Beijing has reacted furiously to Canberra’s complaint after flares were were dropped on a RAAF jet, saying Australia had “deliberately intruded”.