Australia has protested what it describes 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.

"All countries are expected to respect freedom of navigation and overflight in and above international sea lines of communication, such as the South China Sea, and to avoid interference in legitimate activities conducted in international waters and airspace,

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