Chinese spy ship spotted off Australia’s west coast near a secretive naval base & More News Here

Dutton described the vessel as a “Chinese warship with intelligence gathering capabilities”.

The same high-tech Chinese surveillance ship sat off the Queensland coast final July monitoring navy workout routines between Australian and American forces.

Asked why he was disclosing the presence of the Chinese ship in an election marketing campaign, Dutton mentioned it was regular observe to reveal the actions of Chinese spy ships working so near Australia.

“It continues the practise that we had before of making the public aware of the activity of these vessels,” he mentioned.

“I think people understand the difficulty that’s the reality of the Indo-Pacific at the moment, the acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government.

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“I think Australians deserve to know what is taking place. And as I say, it’s a repeat of a previous practice where we’ve made the public aware of these activities before.”

Labor’s defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor mentioned his get together “shares concerns that a People’s Liberation Army-Navy Vessel has been conducting surveillance operations off Australia’s west coast”.

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

“I have had a preliminary conversation with the Defence Minister, and have sought a more comprehensive briefing.“

John Blaxland, professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University, said it was right for the Defence Minister to call out the presence of the Chinese ship but noted Australia “acts in a similar manner”.

Unless the vessel was doing one thing that hasn’t been publicly disclosed, Blaxland mentioned “to my mind it is actually quite passive”, fairly than aggressive.

“It’s what nations do – they operate outside the 12 nautical miles [of another country’s coast], they monitor what they can, and they gather information that might be useful in the future about electronic profile and things like that,” he mentioned.

“And the facilities at Harold. E Holt are acutely aware of what’s at stake and what’s at play and are postured with this in mind.

“But having said that, it’s still appropriate that it gets called out. Because the Australian people need to appreciate that it is happening and happening on an industrial scale.”

Michael Shoebridge, director of the defence program on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, mentioned the presence of the ship exhibits China could be very interested by understanding Australian and allied navy capabilities like communications and submarine operations.

“And they’re devoting intelligence resources to do that,” he mentioned.

“It also shows the PLA is now routinely operating closer to Australia than in past decades.

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“Public discussion of this – the increasingly close military activity – is valuable because it’s a reality that our security has to deal with. So routine public reporting of PLA presence serves a useful purpose in a democracy.”

But Shoebridge mentioned the announcement in the midst of an election marketing campaign “clearly also serves a political purpose”.

In a assertion, Defence mentioned it was conscious of the vessel working “off the north-west shelf of Australia”.

“Defence is actively monitoring the current activities of the Chinese Intelligence Collection Vessel off the north-west coast of Western Australia with a combination of air and maritime capabilities,” he mentioned.

“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.

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

Cut by the noise of the federal election marketing campaign with information, views and professional evaluation from Jacqueline Maley. Sign as much as our Australia Votes 2022 publication right here.