The Australian navy deployed three vessels and surveillance aircraft to “keep a close eye” on a Chinese task group that has been operating “in the vicinity of Australia” since mid-February, the Australian defense minister said.
Richard Marles, who is also a deputy prime minister, said in an interview on Thursday that three Anzac-class frigates - HMAS Stuart, HMAS Warramunga and HMAS Toowoomba were monitoring the Chinese warships that were about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Perth.
“From the very moment that this task force came within the vicinity of Australia, in an unprecedented way, we have been surveilling its movements,” Marles said. “We will continue to stay with them so long as they are within the vicinity of Australia.”
The Chinese task group includes the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi, and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu.
On Feb. 21, they carried out a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand at very short notice, prompting airlines to divert commercial flights in order to avoid the risk of an accident.
After Canberra expressed concerns, Chinese authorities replied that the warships’ activities “have always been conducted safely, in a standardized and professional manner, and in accordance with relevant international laws and practices.”
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China sending a ‘strategic signal’
Although the Chinese vessels are entitled to freedom of navigation under international law China was sending a message about its ability to project force, analysts said.
“It’s pretty clear that China is using this naval deployment of three ships to send a strategic signal to Australia – and the region – that China will project its naval capabilities further from China’s coast and into the maritime approaches of other states,” said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI.
One of the three vessels is a Type 055 Renhai-class cruiser, which is one of China’s most powerful warships, Davis noted.
“This is designed to assert China’s power and dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, especially at the same time that the U.S. appears to be embracing a more isolationist posture,” the analyst said.
Anne-Marie Brady, professor of political science at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, emphasized the strategic signaling of the live-fire exercise conducted by the task group in the Tasman Sea.
“China was sending a message to New Zealand and Australia that they could threaten their air and sea links at any time, without warning,” Brady said.
Marles declined to speculate about future activities of the Chinese task group and how long it would remain near Australia but Davis said he believed Chinese forces would appear regularly in the region in response to Australian deployments in waters closer to China.
“China will do this more regularly and won’t be constrained to only nearby maritime areas” Davis said.
“Now that flotilla is circumnavigating Australia, so it’s a message that is directed principally at Australia, to try to intimidate them into ending deployments into the South China Sea.”
New Zealand and Australia “are meeting with other like-minded states, and signing new strategic partnership agreements,” said Brady.
“They’ve also both said they’d increase defense spending,” the New Zealand academic added.
Edited by Mike Firn.