BEIJING: China’s state-run media warned Washington on Monday that Beijing could treat its surveillance flights as an “act of hostility,” after accusations a Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US military aircraft.

US Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Friday the armed Chinese warplane came close to the American P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft on three occasions, at times less than 30 feet (nine meters) away, in what he called a “very dangerous” intercept.