On Tuesday, China's military reported that Chinese warplanes tailed a U.S. military aircraft through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

According to a statement from the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, the U.S. aircraft was a P-8A Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance plane, capable of conducting long-range anti-submarine warfare.

The Chinese military "organized warplanes to tail and monitor the U.S. aircraft’s flight and handled it in accordance with the law," said Senior Colonel Li Xi, a spokesperson for the command.

"Theater command troops will remain on constant high alert and will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability," he added.

The U.S. Navy has not yet commented on the incident.

China claims the self-governed island of Taiwan as its own territory and is angered by other countries patrolling the waters that separate it from the island.

On Friday, Germany sailed two warships through the Taiwan Strait, marking its first transit of the disputed waters in more than two decades, which drew criticism from Beijing.

In 2001, a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese navy fighter collided mid-air near the Chinese island province of Hainan, resulting in the death of the Chinese pilot. The U.S. stated that its plane was in international airspace and that the accident was due to reckless flying by the Chinese side.