China says US should stop ‘dangerous acts of provocation’ after spy plane intercept

China called on the U.S. to stop its “dangerous acts of provocation” on Wednesday after a Chinese fighter jet intercepted an American spy plane over the South China Sea last week.

“For quite some time, the U.S. side has frequently sent aircraft and vessels to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China, seriously threatening China’s sovereignty and security,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily press briefing.

“Such provocative and dangerous moves are the root cause for maritime security issues,” she added. “The U.S. needs to immediately stop such dangerous acts of provocation.”

Officials with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on Tuesday accused a Chinese J-16 fighter pilot of conducting an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver,” after it flew directly in front of the nose of an RC-135 aircraft on Friday and forced the American spy plane to fly through the wake of its turbulence.

“The RC-135 was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law,” American officials said in a statement.

The U.S. also released a video of the encounter, which shows what appears to be a fighter jet zooming by the American spy plane.

The incident comes after China rejected a U.S. request for a meeting between the defense chiefs from both nations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Lulea, Sweden, on Wednesday that the encounter underscored the importance of maintaining “regular, open lines of communication,” including between the countries’ defense ministers.

“As we’ve said repeatedly, while we have a real competition with China, we also want to make sure that doesn’t veer into conflict and the most important starting point for that are regular lines of communication,” Blinken added.

Both China and the U.S. have seen relations plummet amid growing concerns that Beijing will invade Taiwan to reunify it with the Chinese mainland.

China sees the self-governed island as historically part of the mainland, but the U.S. is alarmed about the possible takeover of a democratically governed and independent nation.

The nations have also butted heads diplomatically over rival expansions across the Indo-Pacific region and after a Chinese spy balloon floated over the U.S. mainland in February.