Blame game continues over Australian Navy’s tense moment in Yellow Sea
A diplomatic spat flared after a military helicopter became entangled in a heated moment with the Chinese navy. But who is to blame?
Was the temptation to take a peek at China’s newest, most powerful aircraft carrier behind a dangerous incident involving an Australian naval helicopter last weekend?
A diplomatic spat flared on Monday when the Department of Defence revealed a Royal Australian Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter from the guided missile frigate HMAS Hobart had been forced to take evasive action while operating in the Yellow Sea off the coast of North Korea.
A People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) land-based J-10 fighter aircraft is said to have crossed its path and released flares on Saturday, May 4.
“The PLA Air Force plane dropped flares about 300 metres in front of the Seahawk helicopter and about 60 metres above it, requiring the helicopter to take evasive action in order to not be hit by those flares,” Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement.
“The consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant.”
Australia has been contributing warships and aircraft to a UN Security Council blockade of North Korea since 2018. The mission is designed to prevent the export of weapons and the import of sensitive materials.
However, the Yellow Sea is an extension of the East China Sea that reaches between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. It’s also a favoured site for People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) military exercises.
An April 28 to May 5 “no-go zone” had been declared by the port authorities of the city of Dalian for the Bohai Strait, at the Yellow Sea’s extreme end and just across the border with North Korea.
And the declaration of this military exercise zone coincided with the first voyage of China’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, the PLAN Fujian, also in the Yellow Sea.
Cold war games
“Australia’s statement confuses right and wrong and shifts the blame. We’re firmly opposed to that,” a Chinese defence spokesperson said in Tuesday’s official statement.
Australia had already rejected the accusation.
“Defence has, for decades, undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region and does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace,” a Defence Ministry statement reads.
Coincidentally or otherwise, the Chinese aircraft carrier PLAN Fujian had left the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard – on the southern tip of the Yellow Sea – for the first time on May 1.
The newly completed 80,000-ton warship – capable of challenging the best nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the United States – was conducting tests on its propulsion, navigation, and other onboard electrical systems.
The carrier was spotted on a May 2 satellite photo off the coast of Shanghai, headed northeast at high speed. But its exact whereabouts over the following eight days are unknown.
But China’s defence spokesman accused the HMAS Hobart’s helicopter of approaching undefined “normal training activities of the Chinese side” three times.
Whether this was the Bahai “no-go” zone, the PLAN Fujian – or both – was not specified.
“Chinese troops sent a vocal warning to the Australian helicopter and conducted legitimate, reasonable, professional, and safe operations to expel it, which are fully in line with the international law and international practice,” he said.
Accidents waiting to happen
“Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner,” the Australian Defence Ministry statement asserts.
“We urge the Australian side to truly respect China’s sovereignty and security concerns, cease spreading false narratives, strictly constrain the operations of its naval and air forces, stop all dangerous provocations, and avoid undermining the overall relationship between the two countries and the two militaries,” the Chinese defence ministry statement retorted.
Whatever the circumstances of the flare-dropping incident, it’s just the latest of a series of dangerous acts directed towards Australian, Canadian and US military personnel.
In October last year, two Chinese J-11 interceptor fighters were involved in a similar flare-dropping incident in the South China Sea, this time involving a helicopter from the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa.
China accused Canada of a “malicious and provocative act with ulterior motives.”
In November, a Chinese destroyer activated its sonar near the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba while in international waters near Japan.
This injured divers who were in the water attempting to remove nets that had fouled the warship’s propellers.
In 2022, a Chinese J-16 interceptor fighter cut across the nose of a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and released chaff. The Poseidon’s engines ingested some of the thin metal foil strips, but the aircraft returned to base safely.
Earlier that year, a Chinese destroyer sailing through the Arafura Sea north of Darwin turned a laser on another P-8A Poseidon monitoring its passage. China accused Australia of “provocatively” deploying sonar buoys.
“China habitually denies engaging in irresponsible conduct in its encounters with foreign warships and aircraft,” says Australian Strategic Policy Insitute (ASPI) senior analyst Euan Graham.
“Yet the catalogue of unsafe incidents is extensive enough to prove deliberate and organised harassment … It is simply not credible to assert that these incidents are spontaneous or occur independently of the Chinese military chain of command.”
Political manoeuvres
China claims ownership of the entirety of the East and South China Seas – right up to the coastlines of The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia – as well as several Japanese islands, including Okinawa.
And it’s adopted a “do as we say, not as we do” approach towards international activities in these waterways.
Graham points out Australia’s naval chief, Vice-Admiral Mark Hammond, attended a regional naval symposium hosted by China last month. This was touted as an opportunity to “deepen friendship, promote exchanges and enhance mutual trust” within the region.
Hammond reportedly raised the sonar assault directly with the forum’s host, PLAN chief Admiral Hu Zhongming.
“The latest (incident) could even be interpreted as a personal rebuke to Australia’s navy chief for directly questioning Chinese military professionalism and safety,” says Graham.
“A combination of coercive behaviour, including military manoeuvres, with diplomatic charm offensives is familiar in China’s statecraft. India and Vietnam have experienced similar tactics over many years. So Canberra should not be surprised by the combination of stroke-and-poke in the current phase of supposed stabilisation with Beijing.”
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