A Chinese fighter jet has dropped flares in front of an Australian surveillance plane over the South China Sea, in an incident described as "unsafe and unprofessional" by the Albanese government.
The RAAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft was carrying out a routine patrol on Sunday when the People's Liberation Army jet flew alongside it, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.
He said on two occasions the Chinese aircraft released flares "very close" to the Australian plane.
"Having reviewed the incident very carefully, we've deemed this to be both unsafe and unprofessional," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"It's because of determining it to be both unsafe and unprofessional that we are now making this public."
No Australian personnel were hurt in the interaction, but Mr Marles said there could have been a different outcome.
The federal government has complained about the incident to the Chinese embassy in Canberra and made representations via the Australian embassy in Beijing.
Pressed on how close the flares were released from the Australian plane, Mr Marles declined to specify an exact distance, but said it was "very close".
"We're talking about a P8 aircraft ... it is a large jet aircraft which is not particularly manoeuvrable in an instant and the proximity of these flares meant that it was unsafe," he said.
