US accuses China of military 'aggressiveness'

STORY: The U.S. says two dangerous encounters with China in recent weeks signal rising ‘military aggressiveness’ from Beijing.

After the close calls – one at sea and one in the air.

White House spokesperson John Kirby called them unacceptable.

"Both of those incidents were in complete compliance with international law. There was absolutely no need for the PLA to act as aggressively as they did. So it won't be long before somebody gets hurt. That's the that's the concern with these unsafe and unprofessional intercepts. They can lead to misunderstandings. They can lead to miscalculations."

That warning followed this video released by the US navy on Sunday, showing what it called an ‘unsafe interaction’ with a Chinese warship in the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

It appears to show a Chinese vessel crossing in front of a U.S. destroyer, forcing it to slow down to avoid a collision.

At the end of May, a Chinese jet carried out what the U.S. called an ‘unnecessarily aggressive’ maneuver near an American military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace.

Kirby said if China wanted to show that the U.S. was not welcome in the area, or to stop American vessels supporting freedom of navigation, it would not succeed.

"I sure would like to hear Beijing justify what they're doing. That said, these are intercepts. Now look, air, maritime intercepts happen all the time. Heck, we do it. The difference is when we do it, when we feel like we need to do it, it's done professionally and it's done inside the international law and it's done in accordance with the rules of the road. ”

On Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that quote "the measures taken by the Chinese military are completely reasonable, legitimate, and professional and safe."

The recent jump in tensions comes as both sides blame one another for not holding military talks with disagreements over issues ranging from trade and Taiwan to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.