For almost a month, Australian forces were on alert while a flotilla of Chinese navy ships made an unexpected trip to the continent. The ships have sailed in and outside the exclusive economic zone of Australia. They pulled living fire near the commercial airspace, forcing dozens of civilian flights to redirect. They sailed in front of Perth in Western Australia, a few days after an American nuclear submarine which accused a nearby naval base.
Finally, last weekend, Chinese ships headed north towards Indonesia.
Australian officials have repeatedly assured the public that the presence and actions of Chinese ships were perfectly legitimate under international law. But the trip was the furthest in the south than the Chinese army came and was deeply uncomfortable for Australia.
He forced the nation to carefully examine its own aging fleet, its high military dependence on a distant ally, the United States and the growing muscles of its greatest trading partner, China.
There was nothing in the deployment of the three Chinese ships – a cruiser, a frigate and a replenishment tanker – which was technically impressive or strategically significant. The formidable Chinese navy has long demonstrated the long distances it can cover and the capacities of its first ships.
Instead, he ended up highlighting the inadequacies of Australia: his own navy is the oldest and smallest it has been since the Second World War, according to analysts and former Navy officials. He has two oil tankers, who are crucial to sailing long distances, as the Chinese have done, but both have been out of service for months. The two Chinese warships had 144 combined vertical launch missile cells, while the 10 warships of the Royal Australian Navy, in total, have 200.
“The Chinese show us in our own backyard,” said Marcus Helyer, expert in expenditure and military capacities that previously worked for the Defense Department of Australia.
“We cannot even navigate in our own country. They really rub it, “he said. Australian forces could of course rely on friendly countries like New Zealand, which has full of an Australian ship in the Tasman Sea while the two countries jointly monitored Chinese ships.
The storm of fire ignition of the flotilla in Australia is an indication of the way in which China could take advantage of a moment when the most rifle allies are forced to review long -standing hypotheses on links with Washington. The United States has not officially commented on Chinese ships, even if it has coincided with the visit of a Top us order And An American submarine in Australia.
Chinese officials said they were doing training in international waters as all the navies do and had nothing to explain or apologize.
This did not stop speculation in Australia on the timing and the message it was designed to send. The ships surrounded Australia while the Trump administration has changed expectations concerning the continuous support of the United States to allies like Europe and Ukraine. Australia is about to hold a federal election, in which ships guaranteed that defense will be a major subject of discussion.
“The Chinese navy illustrates the vulnerability of Australia at the exact time when the United States demonstrates the lack of American reliability”, ” Peter HartcherSydney Morning Herald’s political and international editor, wrote last month. Between the “Buccaneling” in Washington and the Chinese military drum, he wrote: “We are so exposed that we are faced with the next almost naked decade.”
The government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spent in recent years working hard to stabilize relations with China, which had reached a weak point under the previous government, China imposing paralyzing commercial restrictions.
At the same time, Australia has doubled its military alliance with the United States. In February, he paid half a billion dollars in Washington as a deposit to strengthen the industry of American submarines, to finally receive American nuclear submarines as part of a security pact with America and Great Britain known as Aukus.
Last month, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said to his Australian counterpartRichard Marles, that President Trump was “very aware, favorable” to the three agreement. But a few weeks later, when a journalist asked Trump if he would discuss Aukus with the British Prime Minister, Trump asked: “What does that mean?”
Australia First detected The Chinese are dispatched in early February, one in the north and the other two to the northeast. He followed them while they were traveling south along his east coast, entering the exclusive economic zone of Australia near Sydney.
The malaise on ships has become a full-fledged alarm on February 21, when a sales pilot overvain the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand heard radio emissions from Chinese ships warning live fire exercises. The pilot informed Civil Australia Aviation Service, which rushed to divert flights to the region. Nearly 50 planes would eventually change course.
The exercises were a surprise for Australia and New Zealand, but both admitted that they were legal. A ship had the potential to transport terrestrial attack missiles or anti-navire ballistic missiles.
China’s response was in substance: getting used to it.
“As a major power in this region, as a country that has so much to take care of, it is normal for China to send their ships to different parts of the region to carry out different types of activities,” said Xiao Qian, China ambassador to Australia, said Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Australia, said The national broadcaster of Australia.
The Chinese navy, already the largest and most expanding in the world, has also been more aggressive to make its presence felt elsewhere in Asia. Minister of Japan of Defense said last month That the Chinese navy ships had crossed the waters around the Ryukyu Islands – a chain that extends between Kyushu and Taiwan – a total of 68 times last year, a spectacular increase compared to 21 times in 2021.
“They were gradually spreading but very regularly, showing the world they can be wherever they want to be, whenever they wish,” said Rowan Moffitt, a former deputy chief of the Australian Navy. “We see no reason to suggest the intention to use their capacities against us today. If the intention changes, they could. »»
But for some, the Chinese fleet recalled the possibility that hostile powers reach the Australian banks.
“We have considered the conflict as something we choose to get involved on the other side of the world,” said Jennifer Parker, a naval expert and a two decades from the navy.
Last year, the government of Mr. Albanese announced ambitious objectives to extend and update the naval fleet of Australia, but the results We don’t expect to be seen until the 2030s, and some experts are skeptical that local industry can deliver.
Australian warships have sailed near China, through The Taiwan Straitand participated In joint exercises In the southern China Sea. (And a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense asked if Australia would inform Beijing of its own exercises near China.) But these are corridors strongly victims of the trafficking where the interests of several countries intersect, while the only reason for being south of Australia or in the Tasman Sea would be to send a message, said Ray Powell, the director of maritime transport of maritime transparency, Projectingwhich was previously an American defense attaché in Canberra.
“This particular message is that we are able to hold you in danger,” he said.
