Marise Payne’s no comment on Chinese ‘spy ship’ claims

Marise Payne has dodged claims a Chinese ship searching for Flight MH370 is probably spying on the Australian military.

Federal Defence Minister Marise Payne.

Defence Minister Marise Payne has dodged claims by security ­experts that a Chinese government ship supposedly searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is probably spying on Australian military operations.

Senator Payne would not say whether she accepted the experts’ opinion, saying the government did not comment on “intelligence matters”.

Former director of defence ­security intelligence Clive Williams, Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings, and Deakin University professor Greg Barton have said the Dong Hai Jiu 101 would be ­expected to take advantage of the opportunity to gather intelligence during its “target rich” posting in Western Australia.

The Dong Hai Jiu 101 and its crew of about 30 arrived in Fremantle in February to join the hunt for MH370, which disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

But an analysis of weekly search bulletins issued by Australian authorities shows the ship has done between only 17 and 30 days of searching in the southern ­Indian Ocean where satellite tracking data indicates the Boeing 777 came down.

Instead, most of the time it has been on “weather standby”, sometimes “to the north of the search area”, or in Fremantle where it is anchored offshore, having resolved in early August that it would stay there until the weather improved, perhaps next month.

The security experts noted that China regularly uses its ships for “research” in the region on what are regarded as thinly disguised spying sorties. They said the Dong Hai Jiu 101 would be ­expected to gather intelligence on military activity associated with HMAS Stirling naval base near Perth, which is home to the navy’s submarine fleet; the army’s Special Air Service Regiment also in the Perth area; and secret joint spy and naval communications operations elsewhere in the state.

Senator Payne would not say whether she had, or would have, the Dong Hai Jiu 101 vetted to see if it was known to have carried out spy operations.

“The Australian government thanks the Chinese government for its contribution in the search for MH370,’’ a statement said.

The federal government’s Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre for the search also declined to answer most questions from The Weekend Australian, including whether Australia was subsidising the Chinese ship’s search activities.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra and Chinese consulate in Perth did not respond to questions.