HONG KONG — China’s Ministry of National Defense accused Japan on Thursday of airborne brinkmanship over the East China Sea, rejecting Tokyo’s account of the latest close encounters between military aircraft from the two increasingly estranged countries.

The official Chinese rejection of the Japanese version of events was predictable, but the vehement wording from Beijing showed the bitterness that has built up between the two neighbors. The Chinese defense ministry spokesman, Senior Col. Geng Yansheng, said that in two incidents on Wednesday, Japanese military aircraft flew “abnormally close” to Chinese air force planes — the opposite of the account from Japan’s Defense Ministry.

“For some time, Japan has engaged in close-up tailing, monitoring and interfering with Chinese vessels and aircraft, risking the safety of the vessels and aircraft,” Colonel Geng said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website. Japan’s behavior, he said, had “malign intentions and totally exposed its hypocrisy and two-facedness in relations with China.”

The Japanese Defense Ministry had said that on Wednesday morning, Chinese fighter jets flew near two Japanese propeller-driven reconnaissance airplanes over the East China Sea. The Chinese jets flew so close that the crew of one Japanese craft photographed what appeared to be missiles on the underside of the jets, the ministry said.