Australia has raised concerns with China following an "unsafe and unprofessional" encounter between two military helicopters, the defence department said on Friday.
An Australian military helicopter was flying over international waters in the Yellow Sea when it was intercepted by a Chinese helicopter on Wednesday, a statement said.
The Chinese helicopter matched the Australian aircraft's altitude before "closing in to an unsafe distance", increasing speed and then rolling towards it, requiring the Australian crew to take "evasive action".
"This was an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre that posed a risk to our aircraft and its personnel," the statement said.
Australia was undertaking a routine patrol in the Yellow Sea as part of the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea, it said.
No injuries were reported in the encounter between the People's Liberation Army Navy helicopter and the aircraft of the Australian Defence Force.
China's defence ministry called Australian statement "distortions of facts," saying Australian helicopters were sent to conduct close-range reconnaissance on China in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea and made provocations under the pretext of implementing UN Security Council resolutions. China's responses were legitimate, reasonable and professional, it said.
The UN Security Council resolutions have never authorised any country to deploy forces for surveillance in areas under another state's jurisdiction on the grounds of monitoring activities that violate the resolutions, China's defence ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said.
"China will never tolerate any act that, under the guise of implementing the resolution, endangers China's national sovereignty and security, and will resolutely counter it," Jiang added.
The incident is the latest in a series of military encounters involving China that Australia has called out publicly in similar terms.
In October, it also criticised as "unsafe and unprofessional" the actions of a Chinese fighter jet that dropped flares near one of its maritime patrol planes.
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
