In a statement, the US’ military command responsible for the Indo-Pacific said the Chinese J-16 aircraft carried out the manoeuvre last week and forced the US RC-135 plane to fly through its wake turbulence.

“The US will continue to fly, sail, and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” the statement said.

A video showed a fighter jet passing in front of the US plane’s nose and the cockpit of the RC-135 shaking in the turbulence.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, China has said that the US sending ships and aircraft into the South China Sea is not good for peace.

Such intercepts happen occasionally. In December, a Chinese military plane came within 3m of a US Air Force aircraft and forced it to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid a collision in international airspace.

The encounter followed what the US has called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behaviour by Chinese military aircraft.

The incident took place before China snubbed a request by US defence secretary Lloyd Austin to meet on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit in Singapore this week. A senior US defence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that since 2021 China had declined or not responded to over a dozen requests to talk with the Pentagon.

Relations between China and the US have been tense, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.