"The Department of Defence is reviewing public claims of a May 17 intercept of a US maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft by two tactical aircraft from the People's Republic of China," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
"The incident occurred in international airspace during a routine US patrol in the South China Sea. Initial reports of the incident characterised it as unsafe," he told reporters.
Earnest, however, appeared to downplay the incident saying that the two countries have made progress in reducing the risk of conflict by improving dialogue at multiple levels.
"We've reduced that risk by improving dialogue at multiple levels under the bilateral confidence building measures, and the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement," he said.
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He said the next military maritime consultative agreement talks were scheduled for May 24 and 25 in Hawaii.
The Pentagon said the intercept of the US Navy EP-3 in the South China Sea happened in international airspace about 100 nautical miles south of mainland China and about 50 nautical miles east of Hainan Island.
"... There were two Chinese aircraft that approached and our air crew felt that the approach was not conducted in a safe and professional manner," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
Cook said the Pentagon was confident that "our crew was conducting this, again, in international airspace as allowed under international law".
"We'll review this incident to determine whether or not there needs to be an appropriate response," he said.
The State Department said such a move by China increases tension in the region.
"They're not doing anything to lessen tensions and to do anything to decrease the possibility for miscalculations and perhaps put people in real harm's way. So we absolutely share the concerns that were expressed by the Defence Department about these maneuvers," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.