Australian Government under fire over Chinese jet flare incident

Australia’s defence minister has come under pressure to explain why it took two days to make public a dangerous incident involving an Australian aircraft and Chinese fighter jet.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has defended keeping details of an incident where a Chinese fighter jet fired flares within 30 metres of an Australian aircraft under wraps for two days, saying the information was made public “as soon as we could”.

It came as former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo warned the latest aggression in the South China Sea was part of an “intensifying pattern” of Beijing attempting to assert its dominance in the region.

Mr Marles on Friday explained why information wasn’t revealed earlier, after repeated attacks from the Coalition on why the incident – which occurred early Tuesday afternoon – wasn’t revealed to the public for two days.

He said the incident had to be assessed as to whether it was genuinely dangerous for the Australian pilot involved, before the incident was raised with Beijing.

Former home affairs secretary Mr Pezzullo said on Friday the latest incidents pointed to an “intensifying” series of aggressions from China.

Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia has demanded answers after a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares onto an Australian military plane. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“In Beijing’s mind, a stabilised relationship is us keeping quiet. In Beijing’s mind, a stabilised relationship is us mining our P’s and Q’s and China doing as it wishes,” he said.

Shadow foreign affairs Minister David Coleman on Friday said it was “incumbent on the Australian Government to be transparent with the Australian people and to not hide from parliamentary scrutiny”.

“And that’s what they did here because they had the information for two days and they held it back,” he said.

Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the flares incident was “deeply troubling”.

“These actions are not only dangerous and reckless, but they put the lives of our Australian Defence Force personnel – who were thankfully not injured during this incident – at risk,” he said.

Mr Hastie questioned why it had taken two days for the encounter to be publicly reported, accusing Labor of failing to “show strength and stand up to their Chinese counterparts”.

‘DELIBERATELY INTRUDED’: BEIJING HITS BACK

Beijing hit back at Canberra after Australia demanded answers after a Chinese warplane dropped flares on a Royal Australian Air Force surveillance aircraft.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun claimed Australian aircraft “deliberately intruded” into China’s territorial airspace around the Paracel Islands without China’s permission.

This was “infringing on China’s sovereignty and endangering China’s national security”, he said on Thursday.

The Paracel Islands is disputed land in the South China Sea, south of China and east of Vietnam. China has a presence on the islands but Australia does not recognise its sovereignty over them.

Mr Guo said China’s actions were “legitimate and exercised with professional restraint”.

Beijing had lodged “solemn representations … demanding that Australia stop its infringement and provocations and stop undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Communist Party mouthpiece The Global Times reported.

It is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) moved navy and air force assets to monitor two People’s Liberation Army-navy frigates and a replenishment vessel navigating in Australia’s exclusive economic zone in the Coral Sea on Thursday.

The federal government also complained to Beijing about an incident in the South China Sea on Tuesday when a Chinese jet released flares within just 30 metres of an Australian surveillance plan.

No injuries were sustained by personnel on the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon, but Defence Minister Richard Marles said complaints had been registered with Chinese officials both in Canberra and Beijing.

AFP has sent navy and air force assets to monitor the warships. Picture: AFP

Mr Marles said there was “no way” the Chinese fighter jet could have ensured the flares did not hit the Australian plane given how close they were.

“Now, as it turned out, they didn’t, but had any of those flares hit the P-8, that would have definitely had the potential for significant damage to that aircraft,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“And so as a result, that is an action that we’ve declared as being unsafe.”

Mr Marles said he did not believe there was a direct connection between the flares incident and the Chinese ships sailing off the Australian coast, but insisted Australia was “responding in a serious way” to the warships’ presence.

“I’ve ordered a deployment of both navy and air force assets to make sure that we are shadowing this to have a clear understanding of what’s going on,” Mr Marles said.

“So HMAS Arunta right now, which is an ANZAC class frigate, is shadowing the Chinese navy frigate and we’ll continue to monitor their activities, which is very much within our rights … to understand what this task group is doing.”

The Chinese ships are not breaking international law.

ADF said the vessels had “travelled through Southeast Asia, before entering Australia’s maritime approaches,” and one of the frigates had “transited the waters to Australia’s north”.

“Australia respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law, just as we expect others to respect Australia’s right to do the same,” the ADF said.

“Defence will continue to monitor the activities of the task group in Australia’s maritime approaches with a combination of capabilities, including air and maritime assets.”

Last year, a Chinese fighter jet detonated flares near an Australian navy helicopter. In 2022, another Chinese fighter jet released chaff in front of a P-8A, damaging the Australian aircraft.

Originally published as Australian Government under fire over Chinese jet flare incident