A J- 16 fighter jet attached to an air force brigade under the PLA Western Theater Command is about to take off from the runway during an aerial combat training exercise under complex electromagnetic conditions in the early April 2021, the Chinese Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, debunking Australia's claim that a PLA warplane intercepted the Australian aircraft and threatened the safety of its crew. The PLA Southern Theater Command organized maritime and aerial forces to identify and warn an Australian P-8 ASW aircraft when it approached Chinese airspace of the Xisha Islands for close-in reconnaissance on May 26 despite repeated warnings from the Chinese forces, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesman at China's Ministry of National Defense, said in a statement on Tuesday. The Australian warplane severely threatened China's sovereignty, and the Chinese military's countermeasures were professional, reasonable and legitimate, Tan said. Australia is calling white black, spreading false information and hyping confrontation, Tan said. China opposes this. Tan said after Australia's Defense Ministry said in a press release that a P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force was intercepted by a Chinese J- 16 fighter aircraft during a routine maritime surveillance activity in the South China Sea on May 26, that the spy plane was flying in international airspace. The Australian press release claimed that the interception resulted in a dangerous maneuver that posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew. China has warned Australia to stop such dangerous moves and to restrict the actions of its maritime and aerial forces, or it will bear serious consequences, Tan said. In the May 26 incident, the Chinese plane released flares while flying closely alongside the Australian plane, before cutting in front of the P- 8 and releasing a bag of chaff into its flight path, which included aluminum fragments that were sucked into the engine of the Australian plane, Australia's ABC News reported.