Australian Prime Minister Albanese describes the military air strike in China as unacceptable

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday it was unacceptable for Australian defense personnel to be put at risk in international airspace by the Chinese military while taking part in an operation to enforce UN sanctions against North Korea.

A Chinese fighter jet endangered an Australian military helicopter during an unsafe and unacceptable confrontation over the Yellow Sea, Australia said on Monday.

The Chinese Air Force’s J-10 jet dropped flares over and several hundred meters in front of an Australian MH60R Seahawk helicopter on a routine flight in the Yellow Sea on Saturday as part of an operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea, Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Monday Evening.

In a television interview, Albanese said China had not yet publicly responded to Australia’s objections to the incident.

“We have made this issue public so that we can say very clearly and unequivocally that this behavior is unacceptable,” he told Nine’s Today Show.

Australian Defense Force personnel were “in international waters and airspace working to ensure the sanctions imposed by the world on North Korea through the United Nations due to its intransigent and reckless behavior are enforced.”

“They shouldn’t have been put at risk,” he said.

The Australian public expected an explanation from China about the incident and Australia had “made very strong statements to China at all levels”, he added.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to visit Australia next month, he said.

“We will also make our position clear in the discussions,” he said.

The helicopter, flying from the destroyer HMAS Hobart, dodged the flares. The confrontation posed a danger to the aircraft and those on board, although no one was injured, the Defense Ministry said in a separate statement.

This is the second incident of its kind in six months, upsetting the otherwise growing rapprochement between the two countries after years of strained relations and trade disputes.

Australia said in November that a Chinese naval vessel had injured some of its divers in Japanese waters by using underwater sonar. China denied using its sonar, but Australia rejected that explanation.

In 2022, Australia protested after a Chinese naval vessel pointed a laser at an Australian military aircraft near Australia’s northern coast.

In another incident in 2022, Australia said a Chinese fighter jet dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea, releasing a “bundle of chaff” containing pieces of aluminum that got into the Australian plane’s engine.

Liu Jianchao, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, said during a visit to Australia in November that the Australian navy’s movements in the South China Sea and East China Sea appeared to be an attempt to contain China.

Australia rejected this, saying it respected the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law.

China claims sovereignty over much of the South China Sea, through which more than $3 trillion of shipping trade passes annually, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. An international tribunal said in 2016 that China’s wide-ranging lawsuit had no legal basis.

Chinese naval vessels have been detected off the coast of Australia several times in recent years, including during surveillance exercises with the US military.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Stephen Coates)