‘An aggressive act’ from Chinese spy ship

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has accused Beijing of an ‘aggressive act’ after a Chinese intelligence vessel passed close to a joint US-Australian communications station.

China’s Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship off the WA coast. Picture: Defence Images

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has accused Beijing of an “aggressive act” one week from the election after a Chinese intelligence vessel passed close to a joint US-Australian station used to communicate with naval ships and submarines.

Defence confirmed the vessel was a Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship named Haiwangxing that had travelled south down the West Australian coast before tracking further east along the northwest coast.

Mr Dutton said the Dongdiao-class spy ship crossed into Australia’s exclusive economic zone last Friday with no notice given to Australian authorities about its ­activities or course.

“It is a Chinese warship with ­intelligence gathering capability,” he said. “It is obviously very strange that it has come this far south and it is hugging the coastline as it goes north, and its intention will be to collect as much electronic intelligence as it can.

“I think it is an aggressive act. And I think particularly because it has come so far south.”

The vessel crossed the Australian exclusive economic zone last Friday morning and later passed at a distance of 70 nautical miles from the Harold E. Holt Communication Station (HEHCS) ­located 6km north of Exmouth, in Western Australia’s North West Cape.

The station is a operated by the Defence Department on behalf of Australia and the US and provides very low-frequency radio transmission to US and Australian navy ships and submarines operating in the western Pacific and eastern ­Indian Oceans.

The Chinese ship turned around on Tuesday and a day later again passed by the station at a distance of 50 nautical miles.

Mr Dutton said the vessel was 250 nautical miles northwest of Broome at 6am on Friday and tracking northeast.

“I think Australians deserve to know what is taking place,” he said. “It is a repeat of a previous practice where we have made the public aware of these activities before.”

Defence issued a statement saying it was “actively monitoring” the activities of the vessel with a “combination of air and maritime capabilities.”

“Australia respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace, just as we expect others to respect our right to do the same,” it said.

“Defence will continue to monitor the ship’s operation in our maritime approaches.”

Opposition defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor said on Friday that he had a “preliminary conversation” with Mr Dutton and sought a “more comprehensive briefing”.

“Labor shares concerns that a People’s Liberation Army-Navy Vessel has been conducting surveillance operations off Australia’s west coast,” Mr O’Connor said.

“We note a concerning pattern of behaviour from the PLA Navy of intelligence ships entering Australia’s exclusive economic zone.”

Australian National University professor of international law Don Rothwell said if the Chinese ship came no closer than 50 nautical miles from Australia’s coast “then its activities as reported are lawful and consistent with the Law of the Sea and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”. “They are not dissimilar to similar incidents reported in 2021 during Operation Talisman Sabre and later in 2021,” Professor Rothwell said.

While the ship was an intelligence-collection vessel, “it is purely an example of freedom of navigation”.

“Australia is inevitably constrained about how strong a ­response it can give, because it is always trying to assert freedom of navigation (rights) in the South China Sea. And therefore the ­Chinese are saying ‘well, that’s all we are doing in the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean off your coast’,” Professor Rothwell said.

Exercise Talisman Sabre, Australia’s largest bilateral exercise with the US, took place last July and involved 17,000 personnel from both nations as well as forces from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Britain.

A Chinese spy ship monitored the exercise, as occurred in 2017 and 2019. Last November a Chinese navy ship also travelled through the Torres Strait and down the eastern coastline, entering Australia’s economic zone.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the time that Australia needed to “be on its guard” and “stand up to those who want to ­coerce us.”

However, he also said that the Chinese had “every right to be there under international maritime law, just like we have every right to be in the South China Sea.”

Australian Strategic Policy ­Institute defence program director Michael Shoebridge said Australia was dealing with a Chinese military that was “out and proud” and increasingly operating close to the nation’s coast.

He said such active intelligence-gathering activity, and incidents such as February’s laser targeting of an Australian aircraft by a Chinese destroyer in the ­Arafura Sea, showed “our near ­region is becoming a place of ­direct military tension”.

Mr Dutton said on Friday that he wanted to normalise the relationship with China.

“I don’t want to see them continue down the path of aggression,” he said.