The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan has reacted to the “profoundly disturbing” news of a Chinese fighter jet’s encounter with an Australian Navy helicopter.

A Chinese fighter jet dropped flares in front of an Australian Navy helicopter in international waters off the coast of South Korea on Saturday evening.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has labelled the incident as unacceptable.

“It’s in character with the way the Chinese have been behaving,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“But as I understand it, our naval presence there is in pursuit of the United Nations’ resolution authorised by the United Nations, in what is indisputably international waters.”