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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a Chinese flotilla is near Australia’s exclusive economic zone, as China’s ambassador in Canberra said his country has “no reason” to pose a threat to Australia or apologise for live-fire drills.
The People’s Liberation Army’s naval task force has been under what Defence says is “” after a last week that caught Australia by surprise and forced commercial airlines to divert flights.
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) only found out about the drills from civil aviation authorities some 40 minutes after the window for the live-firing opened, before an alert from New Zealand counterparts tailing the ship came in 90 minutes after opening.
The federal government has acknowledged China had a right to be in waters hundreds of kilometres off the Australian coast, but “best practice” the defence force followed was to give between 12 to 48 hours notice.
The flotilla appears to be circumnavigating Australia, with Albanese telling reporters on Friday that it was “just outside or near the border of our exclusive economic zone” — a maritime area that extends from 22 to 370km from the Australian coastline, over which Australia has jurisdiction and sovereign rights.
On Wednesday, Defence said when it was about 300km east of Hobart.
“I can inform you that I’ve been advised by the ADF that the Chinese vessels are currently, as of a very short while ago, 593 kilometres south west of Adelaide,” Albanese told reporters on Friday.
Criticism over communications
The federal government has been criticised for what has been labelled a communications breakdown over the live-fire alert, with Transport Minister Catherine King’s office first notified after a commercial pilot contacted Airservices Australia, rather than Defence.
Opposition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie said it exposed the Labor Party “for weakness”, while former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo told Sky News the communication breakdowns were “extraordinary”.
“We cannot tolerate that,” he said. “We need a much higher level of readiness and preparedness and we need to meet any such task groups coming south in future in much better terms.”
Albanese said Pezzullo was “entitled to make comments”.
“I haven’t seen his suggestion … what I’m concerned about is the Australian Defence Force,” he said.
Albanese also reiterated the government’s position on the live-fire drills, saying more notice should have been given.
China doesn’t have ‘any reason’ to apologise
China has , with China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian telling the ABC he didn’t see “any reason” why his country should apologise.
“I don’t see there’s any reason why the Chinese side should feel sorry about that or even apologise for that,” Xiao said.
He said: “There’s no reason for us to pose threat to Australia.”
Xiao also played down concerns about the location of the naval task force as the three ships traversed the Australian coastline, saying as a major power, Chinese vessels were present in the region and other parts of the world.
Training was normal for navies across the globe, he said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles has also urged calm, on Thursday saying Australians should take a “deep breath”.
The exercise couldn’t be conflated with an event in which Australia was threatened, he said, responding to questions about the nation’s preparedness.
Xiao’s remarks come after Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty told a Senate estimates hearing this week that Chinese warships would likely visit the region more frequently in the future.
“It’s claiming certainly regional and global interests as a maritime power, and I expect that they will wish to continue to be present in an increasing number of international waterways in the years ahead.”
— With reporting by the Australian Associated Press
