A US military surveillance plane bumped into and damaged a Chinese military jet over the South China Sea Sunday, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

On Sunday morning, a US military surveillance plane approached China's airspace south-east of China's island province of Hainan, and two Chinese military jets scrambled to track it, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.

At 9:07 a.m., 104 kilometres south-east of Hainan Island, the US plane suddenly turned towards the Chinese jets, resulting in its bumping into and damaging one of the two Chinese jets, said Zhu.

(Xinhua)