Australia has accused the Chinese military of a “dangerous maneuver” after one of its surveillance planes was intercepted in the South China Sea just days after the election of Anthony Albanese as prime minister.
The Australian Defense Department said a Chinese J-16 fighter intercepted a P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft during routine surveillance in international waters on 26 May.
“The interception resulted in a dangerous maneuver that posed a threat to the safety of the P-8 aircraft and its crew,” the department added.
The incident comes five days after an Australian election in which relations with China took center stage after three years of tension under the government of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Albanese has maintained a hard line on China since taking office, stepping up efforts to counter Beijing’s efforts to extend its influence to the Pacific and calling for an end to punitive tariffs on Australian goods.
The prime minister told reporters on Sunday that the interception was “unsafe” and that his government had complained to China. “We have made the appropriate representations to the Chinese government expressing our concern about this,” he said.
Euan Graham, a senior member of Asia-Pacific security in the think tank at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “This is not the first time Australian aircraft have been affected. [the] South China Sea, but a good sign [the] The Australian Department of Defense is becoming more transparent about it. “
The meeting is the latest in a series of flashbacks between Australia and China. In February, a Chinese naval ship used a laser against a surveillance plane off the north coast of Australia in what Morrison called an unprovoked “act of intimidation.”
Peter Dutton, the former defense minister who replaced Morrison as head of Australia’s Conservative Liberal Party, also revealed on the eve of the election that a Chinese surveillance boat had approached 50 nautical miles from a base. of naval communications near the western end of the country. The People’s Liberation Army ship was in international waters, but Dutton said it was “unusual” for a Chinese ship to head so far south and described it as an “act of aggression.”
Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia, has called for a reduction in tensions between the two countries during elections that peaked this year when Dutton told Australians to “prepare for war”.
Albanese, who has appointed Labor leader Richard Marles as defense minister, has instead referred to “strategic competition” in the Indo-Pacific region as he tackles how to deal with geopolitical tension with his partner. Australia’s largest commercial.