The Philippine government has accused China of firing flares at one of its aircraft during a patrol flight over the South China Sea earlier this month.

According to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, a Chinese fighter jet “engaged in irresponsible and dangerous maneuvers” on August 19 as a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources plane was conducting a “maritime domain awareness flight” near Scarborough Shoal.

The task force stated that the “unprovoked Chinese harassment” included “deploying flares multiple times at a dangerously close distance of approximately 15 meters from the BFAR Grand Caravan aircraft.”

Moreover, the statement added that flares were also launched near the same plane from the China-held Subi Reef on August 22 as the patrol craft was “monitoring and intercepting poachers encroaching upon the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and the territorial seas” of the Philippines.

The latest incident comes amid ongoing tensions between the Philippines and China over the disputed South China Sea region, which has seen a series of confrontations between the two countries in recent months.

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China, which claims most of the strategic waterway, has been involved in these tense maritime encounters with Manila, raising fears of potential armed conflict that could draw in the United States, a key military ally of the Philippines.

The Chinese government has not yet responded to the Philippines’ accusations, but the situation in the South China Sea remains highly volatile, with both sides closely monitoring the actions of the other in the strategic region.