Australia is keeping a close watch on a fleet of Chinese naval vessels currently situated near the Philippines, with potential plans to head towards Australian waters.

Defense Minister Richard Marles confirmed today that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is actively tracking the task force from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. This development was initially reported by the Australian Financial Review last Thursday.

Marles highlighted that although the naval group is presently located in the Philippine Sea, its ultimate destination remains uncertain, leaving open the possibility of it approaching Australia.

“We do not have a clear indication of its intended course,” Marles stated.

“However, we are continuously monitoring the situation, as we do with all such movements, until we can definitively ascertain that these task groups are not heading towards Australia.”

Marles added that it isn’t particularly unusual for the ADF to monitor a Chinese vessel.

He said the government was not going to give a running commentary on the movements of the PLA Navy.

”I want to put this into some context: we maintain constant maritime domain awareness in our own geographic areas of interest,” he said.

“And in that context, we will routinely monitor the movements of PLA-N vessels.

“And when there are improvements such as this, we will monitor them, particularly until we know that they are not coming in the vicinity of Australia.”

However, Marles insisted the ADF is properly equipped to monitor any ships that come close to Australia.

“We absolutely had an unprecedented level of surveillance of that task group (earlier this year) by the Royal Australian Navy,” he said.

“And we did do it in conjunction with our friends and allies but that saw an unprecedented level of commitment of the Royal Australian Navy.

“You can be assured that at any point in the future, we will bring that same degree of determination and commitment to any journey that happens in our particular area.”