Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia is keeping a close eye on a Chinese warship spotted off Western Australia’s coast far away from Chinese waters.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has claimed the incident is an “aggressive act” but Mr Morrison said the ship had not broken freedom of navigation rules.
The ship has been tracked by Australian authorities over the past week and was sighted off on Friday at 6am about 250 nautical miles northwest of Broome.It crossed Australia’s exclusive economic zone passing the naval communication centre in Exmouth and getting within 100-kilometres of the base.
Mr Morrison described the behaviour as “unusual” but said the ship had not entered into Australia’s waters.
“What these events highlight is the serious times in which we live,” Mr Morrison told reporters.
“They’re looking at us and we’re keeping a close eye on them.”
Mr Dutton said the ship, which has intelligence-gathering capabilities appeared to be “hugging the coastline”.
“It is unusual in terms of the way in which it has come so far south and the way it’s hugging the coastline as it heads up in the direction of Darwin,” he said.
“It is an aggressive act particularly because it has come so far south — for it to come south of Exmouth is without precedent.
“Labor senator Murray Watt also described the situation as a “serious matter”, which he said the opposition took “very seriously”.
“We have sought a briefing from the federal government to better understand the facts of the situation,” he told the ABC.
Mr Dutton said Australian authorities were monitoring the situation closely, with planes and other surveillance equipment monitoring the vessel.
The Department of Defence confirmed the ship was a Dongdiao class auxiliary intelligence ship called Haiwangxing (Neptune), which was also spotted off the Australian coast in 2021.
The ship travelled down the west coast towards Exmouth before tracking east along the country’s northwest coast.
“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,” a defence spokesman said.
“Defence will continue to monitor the ship’s operation in our maritime approaches.”
Despite the timing of the announcement eight days out from the federal election, Mr Dutton said the announcement had nothing to do with the campaign.
“We’ve had vessels in our waters this year and we’ve made the public aware of those,” he said.
“Australians deserve to know what is taking place.” – from Gil May
I posted the video the Palmer Party gave national coverage last election round:
https://www.unitedaustraliaparty.org.au/video/china-could-now-be-a-threat-to-australia-needs-action/
The airstrip was built with the tacit (quiet) approval of the WA government, so the feds would have to have known.
Where are the treason charges here?
This country, politically, is a dog’s breakfast.
So why is it that China was given permission to build their own airport that is specifically built for the Chinese airforce in the Pilbara close to the sea. I think politicians have got a lot of questions to answer to.
Keeping an eye on the Chinese now is a bit late now you idiots
The propaganda against China seems to have worked well judging by some of the comments.. Do those people also believe Zelensky is a hero?
China is moving close to their take over of Australia….The criminals we refer to as govt are facilitating this….Expect to see Chinese militarised goons on the streets of Australia in the next couple of years…and Shanghai style lockdowns…
This is why China is hated by the West…it is a threat to their NWO.. just like Russia and other freedom countries…
https://intmassmedia.com/2017/05/17/one-belt-and-one-road-speech-xi-jinping/
Load of rubbish! More China bashing… Australia has been sending its destroyers to Chinese waters for years… is that an act of aggression also?
Stop the stupid fear mongering… China is not our enemy as portrayed by our US masters – we should know that by know from experience with lies about other countries such as – Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Russia.. and more – by the West.
The US owns more of Australia than China does… in fact China is about 9th down the list..
With such a threat on our shorelines, we should, to a man, be armed and trained, as a national reserve.
And with these threats here, what are so many Chinese doing in this country?
It seems China can go and virtually buy countries all over the world, but can’t build enough universities to educate their progeny.
I made a comment somewhere that Gladys Liu, CCP operative, seems often to be at ScoMo’s elbow at Press conferences. And that is not by accident. And my state is not called, begrudgingly, Chinatoria, for no reason. No need for Daniel Andrews to send delegations to Beijing for Yum Cha anymore, it might be coming to us, very, very soon. Tony Ryan’s comment on the Australian military’s fuel reserves-about a week-is very concerning. And the author of the NRMA’s liquid fuel security reports of 2013 ans 2014 was on the TV news a couple of weeks ago-and he would not have been talking about anything but our fuel (I had the volume down: the news is so toxic I only turn the volume up when something really interesting come s on, and was too slow to catch Blackburn).
https://www.permaculturenoosa.com.au/nrma-report-on-australias-liquid-fuel-security/
And what the hell has Australia got to hide, defense-wise?????
Won’t be atomic submarines, will it? Won’t be an Air Force of 200x F-35’s will it?????
Won’t be an army of thousands and thousands of white Australians like the fighters in WW1 & WW2, will it?????
Our politicians have had their hands in the till for as long as I care to remember…We can’t afford an adequate defense force, can we????? ALL PLANNED!
tonyryan43: “If Australia has destroyers in the South China Sea then how is this a commentable event? Both Dutton and Scomo are idiots talking to fellow idiots.”
Touche!!!! Except they’re not idiots. It’s known as Gaslighting the Sheep. Be afraid! Be very, very afraid, again! The fear narratives have been escalated steadily since 2000. We’ve had the 911 Terrorists, we’ve had the Global Warming, Climate Change, Weapons of Mass Destruction, the GFC, the deadly Plandemic, Putin and the Ukrainian nuclear war threat and now a Chinese Invasion. What’s next?
But give Dutton and Scomo or the other side of the LNP-Labour/Greens duopoly carte blanche so they can protect us from the boogyman who is out to get us. At this point it’s not even a toss up who represents the more immediate danger to the Australian way of life.
How long has the Oz Navy been sailing around China now? A few decades? And is that considered an act of aggression too or just par for the course? Really!
The gaslighting we’re being subjected to is so transparent these bods really DO THINK Australia has more sheep than it has. Pffft! The skills of our political class seem to have sunk lower than that of the proverbial used car salesmen.
Well done, Tony. I did not know about the defense fuel reserve, but did see retired Air Vice Marshall Jon Blackburn on the TV news a week or two ago, and there is only one thing he would be talking about-our liquid fuel reserves. This article contain slinks to both of the NRMA Reports on our fuel reserves, authored by Blackburn. The other is the old John Burge Bob Hawke/Fabianism article:
https://www.permaculturenoosa.com.au/nrma-report-on-australias-liquid-fuel-security/
http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Misc/JOHN_BURGE_2.htm
It is interesting that idiot-features Energy Minister Angus Taylor made a deal with Trump to buy $300 million of fuel reserves buy that the reserves were to remain in America.
You would have to get the booby prize for that, would you not?
What would be the difference IF China “invades”, sets up an “interim” Government that acts exactly as the lying moron Aussie demolition stooges that are paid fortunes for “career politics” in Canberra? At least the interim government does not need to come up with expensive Aussie Kabuki carnival while swinging the new (red) Aussie southern cross flag. Red or Blue is not a choice. One coin – two sides – one rule.
Lynn…
I invite you to leave jolly old 1970 behind you and venture into brave new world 2022 wherein China has been advancing its 21st century style invasion for 35 years.
When CIA agent Bob Hawke invited thousands of Chinese students to reside permanently in Australia following the mythical Tiananmen Square Massacre, they were joined by 1.2 million countrymen, to which the CCP has been funnelling cash, in order to facilitate the purchase of our best residential and arable lands.
Not only is this much cheaper than 20th century-style invasions, it forces young Australians into Chinese-owned rental accommodation and enables the Chinese to export our food security to their advantage.
And to show you just how stupid potato-head Dutton is, or alternatively, how treasonous, Australia’s 90 day defense fuel reserve is now down to one week. If and when there is even a sniff of war with China, our sole source of fuel, Singapore, will shut down all fuel shipments. In case you don’t know, Singapore signed up to the Sino World Empire back in 1994.
Meanwhile, Dutton’s bosses in the Pentagon have scheduled launching of the first North Australian Raytheon missile aimed at China, in June… just a few days away. Now, I do not know if the missile’s guidance system is actually aimed at a Chinese target, but I am sure you get the implications… if not now, when? What other target is there?
And you are worrying about a conventional invasion?
Australia’s greatest threat is not the US or China or Russia. It is Aussies who refuse to face the future.
If Australia has destroyers in the South China Sea then how is this commentable event?
Both Dutton and Scomo are idiots talking to fellow idiots.
What rubbish. Why are they searching our coastline ummm. Looking to see where they can invade.
Australians deserve to know what is going on. Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition parties have taken Australia into every US-led war of the past 80 years.
Former diplomat John Lander sounds a warning against the war rhetoric that is occurring.
All Australians need to listen to his words of wisdom because this is a very serious business.
Just four days after Defence Minister Peter Dutton declared on ANZAC Day that Australia is preparing for war, John Lander made the following interview with Citizens Party Research Director Robert Barwick.
John Lander is a former Australian Ambassador to Iran and Deputy Ambassador to China.
He reveals he’s been “reduced to despair” and feels like “a voice crying in the wilderness” in warning that Australia is being manipulated into becoming a US proxy against China.
I repeat this statement: Australia is being manipulated into becoming a US proxy against China.
As John Lander exposed in his first Citizens Insight interview, he emphasises that the current US strategy is to provoke China into a war by arming Taiwan, vilifying China to make it the aggressor in the eyes of the world, and encouraging Taiwan to declare “independence”.
The same modus operandi the USA has deployed in the Russia/Ukraine war.
John Lander says the USA would thus instigate war using Taiwan as their proxy, so it is the people of Taiwan who die in the fighting, while the USA avoids direct conflict with China that could escalate into global thermonuclear war—identical to the US strategy of using Ukraine as their proxy against Russia.
Adding to John Lander’s alarm is the rhetoric of Peter Dutton, who has previously said Australia would join Taiwan in a war against China—i.e. Australia would also be a US proxy—which would spell annihilation for Australia.
Now the veteran diplomat warns that it may be Australia, instead of Taiwan, which actually triggers a war (watch the interview to see his explanation).
John Lander also tells two stories from his time as a diplomat, which illustrate how sharply Australia has veered in its foreign policy, away from having at least an impulse for independent decisions in our national interest, to one that is completely subservient to the USA and UK.
Before the tensions with China spiral out of control, all Australians should watch and heed the warnings of this experienced professional diplomat.
Must Watch: CITIZENS INSIGHT: Veteran Australian diplomat John Lander speaks out against war danger (PART TWO)
Looks like I forgot to post the video to go along with my previous comment:
https://www.unitedaustraliaparty.org.au/video/china-could-now-be-a-threat-to-australia-needs-action/
If ScoMo is actually the bulldozer he claims t be them why is he not sending out a floating bulldozer to move that ship on?
Has he lost his bottle, or is he taking orders from Commie Gladys?
Aggressive moves!! What nonsense. Navies have been spying on, monitoring and gathering other countries’ communications and intelligence for decades. Western navies and other intelligence bodies continuously monitor Russia, China and North Korea. They in turn watch us. A Chinese warship sailing through Australia’s EEZ is perfectly entitled to do so … they are international waters.
How did this happen, when the Feds should have known about this.
Corio incumbent Richard Marles is copping flak for his associations with China, especially in 2019 after Parliament went into recess-that is a long way to go for Yum Cha, Richard.
And Morrison says all that with Gladys Liu, CCP operative, standing by him. Yeah, sure, ScoMo!!!!
Scaring the sheeple senseless to increase military spending for the Jew world order! The military is for the sheeple not China, Australia vs China???? Are you kidding????? 1.3 billion vs 25 million?????? Most of Australia is gay!!!!! Stop smoking the weed guys
What a load of Crap. The are in bed with them and its all been stitched up. Just more Fake News.
more theater..