The close encounter between Chinese and American planes this week was probably unintentional, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.

Capt. Jeff Davis said that a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion surveillance plane and a Chinese KJ-200, an airborne early warning aircraft, came within about 1,000 feet of each other on Wednesday over the South China Sea near Scarborough Shoal. The Chinese plane crossed the nose of the American plane, forcing the P-3C to “make an immediate turn.”