Beijing tells Canberra to ‘stop buzzing about China’ in first response to Australia’s National Defence Strategy

The Chinese government has dismissed Canberra’s criticism of China’s behaviour in the region as Australia’s chief of navy prepares to visit the PLA Navy’s northern HQ.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman China's Lin Jian

Beijing has told Australia to “stop buzzing about China” and blamed America and its allies for creating what Canberra has called the most challenging and complex strategic environment the country has faced since World War II.

Despite China’s latest fit of pique, The Australian can reveal chief of navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, will in coming days attend a naval conference in Qingdao on China’s northeast coast.

The attendance of Australia’s most senior navy figure at Qingdao will be in the wake of Beijing’s dismissal of Canberra’s criticism of Chinese military behaviour in the region.

“China is committed to peaceful development and a national defence policy that is defensive in nature,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday evening.

“We stay committed to the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and the wider world, and pose no threat to any country,” Mr Lin said in Beijing’s first comments on Australia’s National Defence Strategy.

Canberra’s newly released defence strategy accused Beijing of using “coercive tactics in pushing its strategic objectives”, including “unsafe intercepts” of vessels and aircraft operating in international waters and airspace.

The defence document — the most authoritative strategic assessment released by the Albanese government since it was elected in 2022 — also said the “risk of a crisis or conflict” in the Taiwan Strait was “increasing”, and cited concerns over flashpoints in the South and East China Seas and on China’s disputed border with India.

Defence Minister Richard Marles launches the National Defence Strategy in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Beijing disputed Canberra’s analysis, instead claiming “security risks” mainly come from “some major countries outside the region”, not directly naming the United States.

“They have been forming exclusive groupings, stoking bloc confrontation, and in particular, muddying the waters in the South China Sea, as if the world needed any more instability,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.

Beijing has long opposed AUKUS and the Quad as “exclusive groupings”, which it views as hostile to China.

“We hope Australia will correctly view China’s development and strategic intentions, abandon the Cold-War mentality, do more things to keep the region peaceful and stable, and stop buzzing about China,” he said.

Beijing’s bristling came as relations between Australia and China continue to show modest improvements despite the sharp disagreements over the regional strategic situation.

This week, a senior Chinese trade official and a hundred-strong delegation of Chinese business figures met with China-focused Australian business counterparts in Sydney. Visiting Chinese officials also met with Australian government officials in Canberra on Tuesday to discuss the outlook for the Australia-China free trade agreement, which was agreed to a decade ago in 2014.

Chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond will soon visit China. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

The latest Chinese delegation to Australia comes months before a visit by China’s Premier Li Qiang, which is expected to take place in June. Beijing’s almost four-year long ban on Australian lobsters is likely to be lifted to coincide with the trip, the first by a Chinese premier to Australia in seven years.

Despite the sometimes fraught interactions between the Australian and Chinese militaries, dialogue is also continuing between Australian and Chinese officials on security matters.

A Defence spokesman on Thursday confirmed that Australia’s chief of navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, would attend the Western Pacific Naval Symposium, which this year is being hosted in Qingdao, the headquarters of the People’s Liberal Army Navy’s North Sea Fleet.

The symposium is a biennial meeting that has worked to reduce the chances of incidents at sea escalating. China has lined up the meeting with the 75th anniversary of the PLA Navy, on April 23.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy personnel line up on the deck at a port in Zhoushan. Picture: Xinhua

Representatives from Cambodia, Chile, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, the United States, Pakistan and the United Kingdom will also attend, according to a Chinese defence ministry spokesman.

The spokesman said the conference will discuss “Oceans of Common Destiny” and the naval applications of President Xi Jinping’s “Global Security Initiative”, a banner concept for the Chinese leader’s thoughts on international defence and military matters.

In a development welcomed by capitals across the region, Beijing this week ended an 18-month freeze on contact between its Defence Minister and his American counterpart, which was imposed after then US speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in November 2022.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun discussed the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea in their one-hour long video call. It continues the Biden administration’s efforts to keep lines of communication open with Beijing even as it works with allies to counter Chinese assertiveness.