China’s Foreign Ministry has lashed out at Australia for the latest military confrontation between the two countries — a dangerous interception of an Australian helicopter in international waters.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure to contact China’s President Xi Jinping after the near-miss incident.

On Saturday, an MH-60R Seahawk, which had launched from HMAS Hobart, was intercepted by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force as it was taking part in a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Australia has accused China of dangerous behaviour. However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian blamed Australia, saying the helicopter “deliberately flew within close range of China’s airspace in a provocative move”.

“The Chinese side took necessary measures at the scene to warn and alert the Australian side. The way the situation was handled was consistent with our law and regulations [and was] was professional and safe,” he said.

The federal government has already lodged multiple diplomatic representations with China over the confrontation, but Mr Lin said China had made its own diplomatic complaints.

“China has launched serious complaints with the Australian side on these risky moves. We urge Australia to stop provocations to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Albanese said China’s actions had been “unprofessional and unacceptable”.

“Australian Defence Force personnel were going about their job, their job in international waters, but also in international skies, to support the United Nations and the sanctions that they have against the North Korean regime,” Mr Albanese said. 

The prime minister said that the government had made “very strong representations at every level to China” about the incident, but did not say he had spoken with President Xi.

He added that the Chinese premier would be visiting Australia in June, when he would raise the incident with him. 

“Dialogue is important. It’s always, always important to have avenues of communication and that’s why we’ve used all of those avenues of communication to make our position on this incident very clear,” Mr Albanese said. 

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who served as defence minister during the Morrison government, demanded Mr Albanese raise the matter directly with Jinping.