China’s provocative manoeuvre

Beijing’s false claim that an RAAF surveillance aircraft shot at with flares by a Chinese fighter jet on Tuesday was “deliberately intruding into China’s airspace” shows the blatant disregard of Xi Jinping’s regime for international law. It highlights the Chinese Communist Party’s unrelenting drive for hegemony across the Indo-Pacific, especially the South China Sea. As North Asia correspondent Will Glasgow writes, some extremist voices in China even argue that the next Australian plane to contest Chinese territorial claims should be shot down. Beijing has accused RAAF personnel of acting like “thugs” and “intruding into other people’s homes”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says the Australian aircraft, a P-8A Poseidon, was operating in international airspace when the Chinese J-16 fighter shot the flares within 30m of it in an “unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre”. The near-miss was dangerous. As Mr Marles said, the Chinese pilot could not have known the flares would miss the P-8A. Had they hit, they could have significantly damaged the aircraft. The incident came days after Australia paid its first AUKUS down payment to the US, transferring nearly $800m to help boost the country’s submarine production, including the first of Australia’s nuclear-powered subs. The conduct by the People’s Liberation Army underlines the importance of the AUKUS pact, which China strongly opposes. Two years ago a Chinese foreign ministry official claimed the AUKUS allies were “walking further and further down the path of error and danger”.

Tuesday’s provocative encounter, the latest of several by the PLA in the vicinity of Australian Defence Force aircraft and warships since 2022, took place near the Paracel Islands, the ownership of which is disputed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. Much of Beijing’s extensive land reclamation in the area has been used to build military facilities. The incident coincided with the ADF monitoring three Chinese warships operating legally in the Coral Sea northeast of Australia, one of which passed through the Torres Strait on Tuesday. While the Defence Department emphasised Australia’s respect for the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in line with international law, China holds itself to a lower, more self-serving standard.

In December, after Beijing lifted its last trade ban on Australian exports – on live lobsters – Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian urged Australia to show “respect” for Beijing’s territorial claims and Australian military forces to stay out of the South China Sea. Moves by “non-regional countries” to send advanced warships and aircraft into the area “threaten peace and stability in the region”, Mr Xiao said. “This behaviour is highly disgraceful and China firmly opposes it. Australia is not a party to the South China Sea issue and should respect China’s sovereignty.”

In January 2024, Mr Xiao called for closer ties between China and Australia, including defence and military exercises. Incidents such as China’s J-16 fighter firing flares, however, only compound tensions and suspicions.