Chinese warship sending ‘unsubtle’ message to Australian military

An uninvited guest from China has arrived to monitor Australian-US military exercises. This is why we need to “pay attention”.

An expert has warned the Chinese military’s increased presence in Australia is sending a deliberate and unsubtle message to our forces as yet another warship approaches our waters.

Just over a month after three Chinese warships paid what was touted as a friendly visit to Sydney, Beijing has sent an uninvited surveillance vessel to spy on Australia’s military exercises.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has confirmed the ship is on its radar and was expected to position itself off Queensland just outside of territorial waters to monitor the Talisman Sabre war games between the Australian and US military.

“We’re tracking it. We don’t know yet its destination but we are assuming that it will come down to the east coast of Queensland and we will take appropriate measures,” ADF chief of joint operations Lieutenant General Greg Bilton.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of advanced Chinese warships venturing to parts of the world where they used to have very little presence.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings told news.com.au that the increased presence is a “deliberate” signal to Australia.

The USS Ronald Reagan is seen docked at the Port of Brisbane ahead of the Talisman Sabre 2019 exercises. Picture: Dan Peled/AAP

“There is definitely an increase in the presence of Chinese warships which is happening in lock step with the rapid growth of the country’s navy,” Mr Jennings said.

“It is an unsubtle way of saying to Australia and other countries that we need to pay attention to the fact they now have capable ships and aircrafts.”

The arrival of three warships into Sydney Harbour came as a surprise to most Australians and sparked questions about the true nature of the visit.

Though the Government assured the public it was just a routine “reciprocal visit”, this new monitoring vessel doesn’t really line up with the image being pushed of a friendly military relationship, according to Mr Jennings.

“It is worth remembering that friendly military forces don’t really do this to each other,” he said.

“We can use the rhetoric of shared values and interests with China but their actions show a very different kind of relationship.”

Last month three Chinese warships arrived at Sydney Harbour to the surprise of most of the public. Picture: Peter Parks/AFP

He added that these type of intelligence gathering exercises show a “deep thirst for information about potential adversaries”.

This isn’t the first time the Chinese military has sent a ship decked out with advanced communication systems to monitor the war games.

The same class of vessel was sent on a very similar intelligence gathering excursion when the games were on back in 2017.

This year up to 34,000 military personnel from the US and Australia are expected to be involved in the training.

Mr Jennings said it is becoming increasingly normal for Chinese ships to spy on these types of exercises.

He noted that China has previously sent a vessel to gather information on the Rim of the Pacific Exercise in Hawaii.

Mr Jennings said the actions of the Chinese Navy are a not so subtle show of force. Picture: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

“They are interested in gathering technical intelligence on how our weapons and technology functions,” Mr Jennings said.

“They operate in international water but carry very sophisticated electronic technology which is designed to look at any electromagnetic signals that come from warships or aircrafts.”

The Defence Department previously told news.com.au that it was aware there would likely be interest from other countries in the Talisman Sabre exercise and that this was taken into account during the planning phase.

This means the Australian ships would also likely be fitted with technology to mask their electronic emissions.

They may even see it as an opportunity to feed misinformation to the Chinese navy, according to Mr Jennings.

“There will be some technology that (the Australian military) deliberately won’t use in the exercises so the Chinese don’t see it,” he said.

“They may also take the opportunity to see if they can fool the Chinese with deliberate misinformation and complicate their intelligence gathering efforts.”