BEIJING — China accused the United States of ‘‘very irresponsible’’ and potentially dangerous actions after a surveillance plane flew near disputed islands in the South China Sea this week and was warned off by the Chinese navy.
On Wednesday, a P-8A Poseidon passed near the disputed Spratly Islands and viewed Chinese land-reclamation work. The plane was warned to leave eight times by the Chinese navy, according to a CNN team aboard the plane.
Analysts said China appeared to trying to create a military exclusion zone around the islands, a move that could heighten regional tensions.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US plane’s approach was ‘‘a potential threat to the security of the Chinese island and reef,’’ adding that it was extremely easy for a misjudgment that could lead to accidents in the air or the water.
‘‘It is very irresponsible and also very dangerous,’’ he told a news conference. ‘‘It undermines regional peace and security. China expresses strong dissatisfaction.’’
China claims sovereignty over more than 80 percent of the South China Sea. Rival claimants to islands and reefs — set amid fertile fishing grounds and potentially oil- and gas-rich waters — include the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.
In the Spratly Islands, China has been engaged in a massive program of land reclamation and construction, including building artificial islands. When the US plane approached the area this week, it was warned off.
‘‘Foreign military aircraft. This is Chinese navy. You are approaching our military alert zone. Leave immediately,’’ a radio operator told the aircraft, later bluntly warning: ‘‘Go, go.’’
After each warning, the US pilots responded calmly that the P-8A was flying through international airspace, according to the CNN team.
The Philippines says similar warnings have been delivered to its military aircraft in the past three months, suggesting that China is trying to exclude foreign military planes from the area.
Although China has acknowledged that the islands will have military uses, Hong insisted that the main purpose of the construction work was ‘‘to provide service for search and rescue at sea, fishing security, disaster prevention and relief, and meteorological monitoring, among other things.’’
In a commentary published Friday, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua accused the United States of ‘‘senseless meddling’’ in China’s territorial disputes with other nations.
The state-owned tabloid Global Times also said the US was trying to contain China and ‘‘sensationalize’’ the issue in a bid to pressure Beijing. It argued that neither side wanted a showdown and that ‘‘hard-
liners in the Pentagon’’ would soon realize they could not stand in China’s way.
‘‘As long as China can finish the construction, this round of intervention by the US will end up futile,’’ it wrote. It said China’s policies would safeguard regional security and could establish the Spratly Islands as a ‘‘navigation and fishing hub.’’
On Thursday, Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said, ‘‘freedom of navigation operations’’ would continue in the South China Sea, but he insisted that US military aircraft do not fly directly over areas claimed by China in the Spratly Islands.
‘‘We will continue to fly in international airspace,’’ he said.