Australia condemns ‘unsafe’ airspace encounter and rejects Chinese allegations RAAF plane ‘deliberately intruded’

Anthony Albanese says Australia has ‘made representations through our normal diplomatic channels’ about an ‘unsafe’ encounter between a Chinese fighter jet and an RAAF aircraft. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Australia has rejected Chinese allegations an Australian airforce plane “deliberately intruded into China’s airspace” and undermined its national security, saying the actions of a Chinese navy fighter pilot who released flares near the Australian aircraft were “wrong … and very very dangerous”.

Australia’s defence department accused the Chinese navy of an “unsafe and unprofessional” incident by allegedly dropping flares dangerously close to an Australian patrol flight on what it described as routine operations in the South China Sea on Tuesday.