China's military said Wednesday that it expelled an Australian patrol aircraft that "illegally intruded" into its territorial airspace over the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, accusing Canberra of "provoking a confrontation."
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin defended the Chinese military's move to expel the Australian P-8A military aircraft, saying it was justified, lawful, professional and restrained, noting that the Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the Australian side.
Responding to a recent statement by the Australian Defense Ministry which claimed that a Chinese military jet conducted an "unsafe and unprofessional interaction" with one of its aircraft, Jiang called it an attempt to shift blame to China, according to the state-run Global Times.
"The Australian statement confounded right and wrong and misplaced the blame to the Chinese side, attempting to cover up its serious misconduct of sending a military aircraft to illegally intrude into China's territorial airspace."
Australia expressed concern Monday over what it called an "unsafe" and "unprofessional" interaction in the South China Sea when a Chinese Su-35 fighter jet allegedly released flares near an Australian Air Force maritime patrol aircraft.
The incident occurred Sunday as a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was conducting a surveillance mission in the South China Sea, according to the Australian Defense Ministry.
