China’s air threat could have taken ‘incredible turn for the worse’

China’s provocative response to an Australian warplane could’ve had “catastrophic” results and there are fears of more threats to come.

China’s “dangerous” mid-air stunt that threatened the safety of nine Australian servicemen and women could have had disastrous consequences, according to a leading defence expert.

A Chinese military aircraft flew dangerously close to a RAAF plane over the South China Sea at the end of May.

The Chinese aircraft released flares, cut across the RAAF plane and flew dangerously close to the front of Australia’s aircraft.

In a move usually used to deter missiles, China also released small pieces of aluminium in the process, some of which had been ingested into the engine of RAAF’s P-8 aircraft.

On the same day, a similar incident took place involving a Canadian aircraft along the North Korean border while carrying out UN sanctions.

A RAAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft was on the receiving end of a ‘dangerous’ manoeuvre by Chinese aircraft last month.

Michael Shoebridge, director of Defence, Strategy and National Security at the The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the attack had been a “clear message” to Australia, as well as to its allies.

“This is an intentional message from (Chinese President) Xi (Jinping),” Mr Shoebridge said.

“This was deliberate aggression and it’s an escalation in the kind of explicit aggression we are seeing from the Chinese military.

“It’s about wanting to make the PLA – the Chinese military – such a risky, dangerous, entity to approach that other forces have to give them a wide berth and get out of their way for their own safety, and the safety of the PLA.”

He said it could have had “catastrophic” implications if the PLA had been successful.

Earlier, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said the circumstances were alarming.

“To get the opportunity to look after the people who look after our nation is so vitally important, especially in light of the circumstances that we see right now,” he told Channel 7.

“If that P-8 that had basically aluminium char put in it from a Chinese fighter jet … If that had crashed, there would now be nine dead Australian servicemen and women and this conversation wouldn’t be happening, because things would have taken an incredible turn for the worse.

“I’ve always said, we’ve got to be as strong as possible as quickly as possible.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is currently in Indonesia, said he was “concerned about the incident”.

“This was not safe,” he said.

The Coalition’s Veterans Affairs spokesman Barnaby Joyce said the incident could have had incredibly disastrous consequences. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Taylor

Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten said on Monday morning that Mr Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were doing everything they could to ensure the region was kept safe.

“It’s a dangerous … risky action,” Mr Shorten told the Nine Network.

“The RAAF crew are highly professional and they’ve kept themselves and their planes safe. But it’s a reminder of the important work that … everyone is doing in our region to make sure that China gets the message that Australia is up and about on its toe.

“China says they want to get on better with Australia and then they do rash and provocative gestures.

“As our government have said, we won’t be taking a backward step towards maintaining our rights internationally.

“We’re doing exactly the right thing … pushing back and saying ‘this is not on’.”

Acting Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia would not waiver under China’s threats. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

On Sunday, Defence Minister and Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said China’s actions would not deter Australia from continuing its lawful monitoring of the South China Sea.

“We have made representations to the Chinese government, but we will not be deterred from engaging in the activities which we are entitled to at international law in the future,” he said.

He also accused China of breaching the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.