Australia has accused a Chinese military aircraft of releasing flares “in close proximity” to its patrol jet over the South China Sea.
The Australian government has raised its concern with Beijing over the “unsafe and unprofessional” manoeuvre, the defence department said in a statement on Monday.
There was no damage to Australia’s P-8A aircraft and its personnel were unharmed after Sunday’s encounter.
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Australia Defence Force said it expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner.
This is the latest in a string of encounters between the two countries’ militaries in the region, where China’s vast claims over islands and outcrops overlap with those of its neighbours.
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Australian spy plane flying 2,500km outside of Australia’s border, doing intelligence gathering for the US. I reckon we were lucky it was only flares they fired at us. My government’s sabre rattling about how ‘unsafe’ this was makes me really angry.
Your comment is apparently not accurate. It’s noteworthy that China’s claims over islands and outcrops effect not only Australia, but practically all its neighbours like Philippines, India, Buthan, Nepal, let alone Taiwan.
Taiwan’s issue with the mainland’s encroachment of their airspace notwithstanding, my “um akchually” note here is that Taiwan claims roughly the same islands in the South China sea, as a hangover of their “we are the real china and there is only one China” stance, and that the claim was made before the civil war:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_disputes_in_the_South_China_Sea
If I were to guess, they probably don’t bother updating their claim since it may needlessly antagonise the mainland, someone more knowledgeable may correct me on that.
While we do consider China a neighbour, we’re more like it’s neighbour down the end of the street, not its nextdoor neighbour. Like, you are aware that Australia and China don’t have any overlapping territorial claims, right?
Well… No we don’t. But technically, there are Chinese research bases in Antarctica within Australia’s claims. However it’s generally agreed that Antarctic claims are unenforceable and don’t really exist so whether or not china needs Australia’s permission is up for debate. Regardless, despite not having explicit permission, the Chinese bases have defacto permission since Australia has not tried to evict them from their claims.
Ah yeah, I should have guessed there would be Antarctic shenanigans.
Scotty said “effect” (presumably meaning “affect”), which is true. If China’s illegal claims over the South China Sea were recognised, it would have massive impacts on trade throughout the entire region. The fact that they’re claiming Vietnamese, Filipino, and Malaysian territory, and not specifically Australian, doesn’t make Scotty’s comment wrong.
Can you point to which part of my comment was ‘not accurate’?
The ‘sabre rattling’ has been practiced by China for a long time, and not only against Australia. And China’s claims the Australian aircraft illegally entered its airspace is factually incorrect.
[Edit typo.]
Sabre rattling just means a display or show of force of military strength. Doesn’t have anything to do with being in China’s borders. What the Australian military and Chinese military are doing in the South China sea absolutely classifies. The only way it would be in China’s borders is if you consider their South China sea claims legitimate. Which, as far as I’m aware, is only recognised by China itself.
Right, so nothing stated in my comment was wrong?