Australian Defence Force commander reveals why China was not invited to Exercise Pitch Black 24

As militaries from various nations were celebrating the launch of Exercise Pitch Black 24, a foreign journalist wanted to know why China was not represented. Read how a senior Australian commander responded.

At the launch of Exercise Pitch Black 24, Air Commodore Pete Robinson was asked an awkward question regarding China. Picture: Harry Brill.

A senior Australian military commander says inviting China to one of the world’s largest flying activities would have been “inappropriate”.

On Thursday at RAAF Base Darwin, flying activity Exercise Pitch Black 24 was launched by Air Commodore Pete Robinson with a large group of military commanders from across 20 nations in tow.

Covering the event was a big media scrum of both Australian and foreign journalists, eager to learn more about the exercise’s training program.

During the press conference, an awkward tension ran through attendees when a foreign journalist asked Air Commodore Robinson why China had not been invited to the event along with the large contingent of Asian guests.

“So the invites for the exercise went out about a year or two ago and at that stage it was inappropriate,” Air Commodore Robinson said.

Not satisfied with the answer, the foreign journalist pressed further and asked “why was it inappropriate?”

Pilots, aviators and ground crew from 20 nations will participate in the massive military exercise. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The delicate question was swiftly handled by Air Commodore Robinson.

“Just at that stage, from our government perspective, we didn’t believe that was appropriate.”

Air Commodore Robinson also confirmed China had never been invited to the exercise in the past.

Asian participants for Exercise Pitch Black 24 include India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Brunei, providing guest pilots and ground crew the opportunity to exchange techniques, procedures and tactics relating to air combat.

The exercise, featuring more than 140 fighter jets, will involve complex scenarios, with a focus on air and missile defence tactics and strike operations.

Air Commodore Pete Robinson (centred) pictured with Filipino officers LTC Michael G Rabina PAF (left), and Colonel Randy M Pascua PAF (right) ahead of Exercise Pitch Black 24. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Air Commodore Robinson acknowledged “every” participant had classified material they would prefer to withhold, but said exchanging information was to the benefit of all the various militaries.

“There are elements of every defence force that you would like to keep to yourself, but the tactics and procedures that we’ll be using are generally fairly common across most air forces,” he said.

“And part of the exercise that we’re doing is we’re actually sharing those tactics and procedures with each other so that we can learn from each other and make each other’s air force stronger by the end of the exercise.”

Originally published as Australian Defence Force commander reveals why China was not invited to Exercise Pitch Black 24