Canberra [Australia], October 20 (ANI): Australia on Monday lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing after a Chinese jet fighter released flares close to an Australian surveillance plane in the South China Sea.

As per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, this is the latest in a string of encounters between the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Chinese military .

Defence Minister Richard Marles said that nobody was harmed, but said the Chinese action was "unsafe and unprofessional".

Marles was cited as saying by the ABC news that an Australian P-8 surveillance plane was conducting a routine patrol over the South China Sea when it was approached by a People's Liberation Army fighter jet.

Marles said Australia was deliberately publicising the encounter with the PLA as pa

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