China spy ship an ‘act of aggression’
DUTTON SLAMS ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ POLL INTERVENTION
A CHINESE spy ship’s “unprecedented” appearance near a naval intelligence base on the West Australian coast has been condemned as an “act of aggression” in the middle of an election campaign.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton revealed on Friday the People’s Liberation Army auxiliary general intelligence vessel was closely monitored by the Australian Defence Force as it sailed past the Harold E Holt naval station at Exmouth over the last week.
“Its intent, of course, is to collect intelligence right along the coastline,” Mr Dutton said. “It has been in close proximity to military and intelligence installations on the west coast of Australia.”
Mr Dutton said Australia had been tracking the spy ship in the past “week or so” as it came close to the secretive communications base, which supports the US and other allied submarines.
Describing the matter as “very strange” and an “act of aggression”, Mr Dutton said he was concerned about how far south the ship had travelled and that it had “hugged” the coastline as it headed back north towards Darwin.
Mr Dutton denied he was announcing the presence of the ship to stir up national security fears and secure votes for the Coalition. “I think
Australians deserve to know what is taking place and it is a repeat of a previous practice where we have made the public aware of these activities before,” he said.
When asked about the Chinese ship, Prime Minsiter Scott Morrison stressed there had not been a breach of Australia’s territorial borders.
“The first thing I want to make very clear is this is freedom of navigation,” he said.
“I mean, they are able to be in these places, they’re not in our contiguous zone, they’re not in Australian waters or anything like that.
“But it is unusual for a PLA navy (boat) to come this far south … It is clearly a ship that is an intelligence gathering ship, they’re looking at us and we’re keeping a close eye on them.” Mr Morrison said it had highlighted the “serious times in which we are living”. “When you look at this event in the context of the many other acts that the Chinese government has undertaken towards Australia then that that is obviously concerning,” he said. “It only continues to highlight why it is so important, of course, we remain calm about these matters, and that we continue to remain confident in the ability of our defence forces and our surveillance capabilities.”
Mr Morrison had earlier campaigned in the marginal Liberal seat of Chisholm with local MP Gladys Liu, where he denied the government’s anti-China rhetoric would harm support for the Coalition in seats with large Chinese-Australian populations.
“Chinese Australians are the greatest patriots you could hope for,” he said.
It came as Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles on Friday denied claims 10 meetings he had with Chinese diplomats in the past five years were a national security concern, calling it a “desperate and silly” attempt by the Coalition to distract from its own record.