‘Aggressive act’: Chinese spy ship spotted off Australia’s west coast near a secretive naval base

A Chinese spy ship has been tracked for a week off Australia’s west coast near a secretive naval communications base, in a move that Defence Minister Peter Dutton labelled an “aggressive act”.

Dutton made the disclosure on Friday afternoon in a press conference in Perth, eight days out from the end of the federal election campaign.

He said the Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship, named Haiwangxing, went as far south as any People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel had ever been on Australia’s west coast.

The ship travelled down the west coast of Australia to the vicinity of Exmouth, before changing course to track east along the north-west coast towards Darwin.

The ship was at all times in international waters but was in Australia’s exclusive economic zone. It was likely looking to gather electronic intelligence on a secretive naval communications base that supports American and other allied submarines, called the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt.

“I think it is an aggressive act, and I think particularly because it has come so far south,” Dutton said in a press conference in Perth.

“For it to come south of Exmouth is without precedent and for it to hug the coastline the way in which it has and heading up towards the north.

“It’s very unusual, we haven’t seen a ship from the People’s Liberation Army come this far south.”

Dutton described the vessel as a “Chinese warship with intelligence gathering capabilities”.

A similar high-tech Chinese surveillance ship sat off the Queensland coast last July monitoring military exercises between Australian and American forces.

Asked why he was disclosing the presence of the Chinese ship in an election campaign, Dutton said it was normal practice to disclose the activities of Chinese spy ships operating so close to Australia.

“It continues the practise that we had before of making the public aware of the activity of these vessels,” he said.

“I think people understand the difficulty that’s the reality of the Indo-Pacific at the moment, the acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government.

“I think Australians deserve to know what is taking place. And as I say, it’s a repeat of a previous practice where we’ve made the public aware of these activities before.”

Labor’s defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor said his party “shares concerns that a People’s Liberation Army-Navy Vessel has been conducting surveillance operations off Australia’s west coast”.

“We note a concerning pattern of behaviour from the PLA Navy of intelligence ships entering Australia’s exclusive economic zone,” he said.

Credit: Matt Golding

“I have had a preliminary conversation with the Defence Minister, and have sought a more comprehensive briefing.“

John Blaxland, professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University, said it was right for the Defence Minister to call out the presence of the Chinese ship but noted Australia “acts in a similar manner”.

Unless the vessel was doing something that hasn’t been publicly disclosed, Blaxland said “to my mind it is actually quite passive”, rather than aggressive.

“It’s what nations do – they operate outside the 12 nautical miles [of another country’s coast], they monitor what they can, and they gather information that might be useful in the future about electronic profile and things like that,” he said.

“And the facilities at Harold. E Holt are acutely aware of what’s at stake and what’s at play and are postured with this in mind.

“But having said that, it’s still appropriate that it gets called out. Because the Australian people need to appreciate that it is happening and happening on an industrial scale.”

Route of Chinese spy ship off the WA coast.Credit: Defence

Michael Shoebridge, director of the defence program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the presence of the ship shows China is very interested in understanding Australian and allied military capabilities like communications and submarine operations.

“And they’re devoting intelligence resources to do that,” he said.

“It also shows the PLA is now routinely operating closer to Australia than in past decades.

“Public discussion of this – the increasingly close military activity – is valuable because it’s a reality that our security has to deal with. So routine public reporting of PLA presence serves a useful purpose in a democracy.”

But Shoebridge said the announcement in the middle of an election campaign “clearly also serves a political purpose”.

In a statement, Defence said it was aware of the vessel operating “off the north-west shelf of Australia”.

“Defence is actively monitoring the current activities of the Chinese Intelligence Collection Vessel off the north-west coast of Western Australia with a combination of air and maritime capabilities,” he said.

“Australia respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace, just as we expect others to respect our right to do the same.

“Defence will continue to monitor the ship’s operation in our maritime approaches.”

Cut through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.