Shanghai | China's hawkish state-owned newspaper, The Global Times, has reacted angrily to the Australian military's surveillance flight over a disputed area in the South China Sea in   November. 
In an inflammatory editorial, The Global Times appeared to warn Australia its planes could be shot out of the sky if the contentious "freedom of navigation" flights persist. It said Canberra was testing Beijing's patience.
"Perhaps one day a plane will drop [out of the sky] and it could happen to be Australian," the newspaper said. "This really shouldn't happen."
China's foreign ministry gave a more muted response. Asked about the flight, uncovered by a BBC reporter who intercepted radio communications and later confirmed by the Australian Defence Department, spokesman Hong Lei said: "There is no problem with navigation and over-flight freedom in the South China Sea.
"We hope other countries, especially those outside the region, will watch their words and actions, rather than bringing up troubles and deliberately complicating the situation in the South China Sea," he said.
Australia has been under pressure in recent weeks to follow the lead of the United States by conducting "freedom-of-navigation" flyovers or sail-throughs near the contested islands and reefs, to push back against Beijing's recent construction activities and increasingly assertive claims.
In   October, the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Subi reef in the Spratly Islands, which is occupied by China but claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, drawing criticism from China and sparking a debate about whether Australia should join such operations to secure trade routes.
At the time, Defence Minister Marise Payne said while Australia supported the US operation, it was not involved. It is understood Australian Defence officials were then urged by Pentagon officials to become more involved.
The revelation of the surveillance flight comes as US reports suggest it won't conduct another sail-by of the contested islands until   January. The Global Times said just as the US was ratcheting down tensions, there was "buzz" in Australia.
In the recording made by a BBC reporter who flew close to Beijing's new islands on   November 25, an Australian pilot says he is exercising the right to freedom of navigation.
"China Navy, China Navy ... we are an Australian aircraft exercising international freedom of navigation rights, in international airspace in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Convention and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - over," the voice says.
The government said the flyover was routine. "The Australian Defence Force conducts routine maritime surveillance patrols in the North Indian Ocean and South China Sea as a part of Australia's enduring contribution to the preservation of regional security and stability in south-east Asia," a Defence spokesman said.