The Chinese military said on Tuesday it had organised naval and air forces to warn and drive away a Philippine Government aircraft which "illegally intruded" into the airspace over Scarborough Shoal, a disputed atoll in the South China Sea.
"We urge the Philippine side to immediately stop infringing upon China's rights and cease provocations and irresponsible hype," a spokesperson for the military's Southern Theatre Command said in a statement.
The Philippine Embassy in Beijing, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Maritime Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The incident follows reciprocal allegations of incursions.
In December, the Philippine Coast Guard deployed an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research vessel operating about 19 nautical miles (35 kilometres) off northern Cagayan province. The Chinese embassy responded that the vessel was on "normal manoeuvres."
(Reporting by Yukun Zhang, Shi Bu and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Karen Lema in Manila Editing by Gareth Jones)
