Two Chinese J-10 fighter jets have intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane in an "unsafe" and "unprofessional" manner in international airspace over the East China Sea, the Pentagon said Monday, in the latest such incident involving the two militaries.

"On July 23 EDT, two Chinese J-10 aircraft intercepted a U.S. Navy P-3 operating in international airspace in the East China Sea," U.S. Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan told The Japan Times in an email.

"The aircrew deemed the intercept unsafe and unprofessional," Logan said. "Operations were able to continue unimpeded."