Chinese jets intercept US surveillance plane.

WASHINGTON — Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a US Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea over the weekend, with one jet coming within about 300 feet (91 meters) of the American aircraft, US officials said on Monday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial reports showed that one of the Chinese J-10 aircraft came close enough to the US EP-3 plane on Sunday to cause the American aircraft to change direction.

One of the officials said the Chinese jet was armed and the interception happened 80 nautical miles (148 km) from the Chinese city of Qingdao.

The Pentagon said the encounter between the aircraft was unsafe, but added that the vast majority of interactions were safe.

China’s Defense Ministry said the actions of its pilots were “legal, necessary and professional” and performed “in accordance with the law and the rules.”

“Close-in reconnaissance by US aircraft threatens China’s national security, harms SinoUS maritime and air military safety, endangers the personal safety of both sides’ pilots and is the root cause of unexpected incidents,” it said.

The US should immediately stop these military activities, which are unsafe, unprofessional and unfriendly, it added.

Incidents such as Sunday’s intercept are relatively common.

In May, two Chinese SU30 aircraft intercepted a US aircraft designed to detect radiation while it was flying in international air space over the East China Sea.

China closely monitors any US military activity around its coastline.

In 2001, an intercept of a US spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on Hainan.

The 24 US air crew members were held for 11 days until Washington apologized for the incident. That encounter soured US-Chinese relations in the early days of President George W. Bush’s first term in office.

Separately, the Pentagon said the US military would soon carry out another test of it’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.