CHINA, DENYING CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH AMERICAN PLANE, POINTS FINGER AT U.S.

[A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the counter-accusations after the Pentagon raised concerns about a close encounter on Tuesday with an American surveillance plane, which the United States said was approached by two Chinese military jets that flew within 50 feet of it.]

By Chris Buckley

INTERACTIVE FEATURE

What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea. China has been feverishly piling sand

onto reefs in the South China Sea, creating seven new islets in the region and straining

already taut geopolitical tensions

BEIJING — China rejected suggestions that its fighter jets flew dangerously close to an American surveillance aircraft and instead accused the United States on Thursday of threatening its security by regularly sending such flights near the Chinese coast.

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the counter-accusations after the Pentagon raised concerns about a close encounter on Tuesday with an American surveillance plane, which the United States said was approached by two Chinese military jets that flew within 50 feet of it.

“American military vessels and aircraft frequently engage in surveillance in close proximity to China’s coastal waters, and this constitutes a grave threat to China’s security on land and sea,” the spokesman for the ministry, Hong Lei, told a daily news briefing in Beijing. “China requests that the United States immediately halt this kind of close-proximity surveillance, thereby avoiding the recurrence of such incidents.”

The flare-up of competing charges reflected continuing tensions in the South China Sea, where the episode occurred. It also rekindled memories, for both sides, of 2001, when a collision between an American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet off the Chinese coast precipitated a diplomatic crisis.

Beijing has been at odds with Washington over Chinese territorial claims across much of the South China Sea, which are contested by Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.

Washington says it takes no side in the disputes but wants to protect freedom of navigation in the waterway. Beijing has repeatedly accused it of dangerous meddling in the disputes.

China has been building up islands and outcrops in the sea under its control into well-equipped outposts. The Obama administration has sent naval ships to pass near those outposts in a challenge to suggestions that China has effective, if not legal, control over waters near those outposts, which Washington says should be open to free passage.

Last week, China said it had sent out fighter jets when a United States Navy destroyer passed near Fiery Cross Reef in the sea, which China has been rebuilding into an island outpost.

In the 2001 episode, the pilot of the Chinese fighter jet plunged to his death after the two planes collided, and the American plane had to make an emergency landing on Hainan, an island province in China’s far south. That led to a standoff that lasted a week and a half, until the 24 American crew members were released.

At the time, Washington and Beijing offered diverging accounts of what happened and who bore the blame. This time, too, both sides offered accounts that, without differing on particulars, put the fault on the other side.

Pentagon officials said on Wednesday that the American plane was on a routine patrol in international airspace when the Chinese aircraft flew close to it. The Pentagon said that it was still investigating the encounter, but that “initial reports characterized the incident as unsafe.”

But on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry gave its own version. Without specifying the position of the American craft, the ministry spokesman, Mr. Hong, said it was flying near Hainan Island, which juts into the South China Sea and is home to many Chinese naval facilities, including a submarine base.

“The American claims are not factual,” Mr. Hong said.

He said that an American Lockheed EP-3 surveillance plane was flying over the sea close to Hainan Island.

“Two Chinese jet fighters engaged in tailing and surveillance in keeping with laws and regulations, and they always maintained a safe distance,” he said. “They did not take any dangerous actions. Operationally, they were totally in compliance with professional and safety standards.”

Follow Chris Buckley on Twitter @ChuBailiang.

@ TheNew York Times