By Matthew Knott
Australians should get used to the presence of Chinese warships operating off the coast of the mainland as Chinese President Xi Jinping seeks to expand the rising superpower’s military reach, experts say.
The Australian Defence Force said it was keeping a close watch on three Chinese military ships which have been spotted just 150 nautical miles from Sydney after moving steadily down the east coast of Australia in the past week.
People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang.
Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie labelled the flotilla’s behaviour “provocative” while a Liberal colleague said it would be hypocritical for Australia to complain about the ships’ presence off the east coast.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government had deployed air and sea assets to shadow the Chinese ships, describing the flotilla’s behaviour as “unusual” but not necessarily unprecedented.
“They’re not a threat in the sense that they are engaging in accordance with international law,” he said, as the ships have not crossed into Australia’s territorial waters.
“Australia is also entitled to be prudent, and we are monitoring very closely what the activities of the task group are.”
Accusing Marles of adopting a “nothing to see here” approach, Hastie said: “Let’s call a spade a spade. The Chinese military has built a blue-water navy [capable of long-range operations] and are now testing us, along with other allies in the region.
“This is not just ‘unusual’ as the defence minister has played it down – it’s provocative.”
Hastie asked: “What is the government doing about these warships? What contact has Richard Marles had with his Chinese counterpart? Has the National Security Committee met?”
Liberal MP Andrew Wallace, the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, said it would be hypocritical to complain about the Chinese flotilla when Australia conducts its own operations far from its shores.
“We can’t be talking about freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and then jump up and down over something like this,” he said. “They haven’t done anything wrong.”
He added that the ships offered an opportunity for Australia to gather intelligence on the Chinese military.
“We can hopefully get a good look at what they are doing and how they are training,” he said.
Former senior defence official Michael Shoebridge said: “I don’t think we should be very worried about these three particular ships, but we should be worried by what they mean for the future.”
“This is a foretaste of what Australia and the South Pacific will experience more and more.”
Shoebridge predicted the dangerous scenes that have played out in the South China Sea - including Chinese coast guard ships firing water cannons on Philippine patrol vessels - will become more widespread as the Chinese military ventures further abroad.
“That sort of behaviour is likely to start coming closer to Australia as the Chinese military presence in the region grows,” he said.
“The Chinese military is not a distant problem; it is a problem right here in our neighbourhood.”
Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, agreed, saying: “Australia has to get used to China doing this far more frequently. It shows China is intent on having a security presence in Australia’s environs.”
While the Chinese flotilla was operating within international law, Graham said the visit was “quite pointed” and “not a friendly” one.
“There is a hard strategic war-fighting element to this,” he said.
“China wants to break out of the confines of the first island chain [encompassing Japan, Taiwan, portions of the Philippines, and Indonesia] and be able to interdict US military resources travelling to Taiwan.”
Defence last week revealed the Chinese flotilla had been spotted off north-east Queensland and had entered Australia’s maritime approaches after travelling through South-East Asia.
Asked about the latest location of the ships, a Defence spokesperson said: “Defence is monitoring the People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class Cruiser named Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu, which continue to operate to the east of Australia.
“Defence routinely monitors all maritime traffic in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone and maritime approaches.”
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