China says it repelled Australian jet breaching its airspace

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.