The Albanese government has slammed the Chinese Government after a Chinese fighter jet had a dangerous close encounter with an Australian surveillance aircraft over the contested South China Sea.
The alarming incident involved a Chinese PLA Air Force Su-35 fighter releasing flares in ‘very close’ proximity to a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon, prompting outrage in Canberra.
Defence Minister Richard Marles called the manoeuvre ‘unsafe and unprofessional,’ confirming that Australia had raised the matter directly with Chinese officials in both Beijing and Canberra.
No one was injured during the incident and the RAAF aircraft was not damaged.
‘Clearly the safety of our Defence Force personnel is paramount here, as of course is the work that they do, which is really asserting the rules-based order,’ Marles said.
‘Having reviewed the incident very carefully, we’ve deemed this to be both unsafe and unprofessional,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
‘It’s because of determining it to be both unsafe and unprofessional that we are now making this public.’
No Australian personnel were hurt in the interaction, but Mr Marles said there could have been a different outcome.
A Chinese fighter jet (file image) released flares in a ‘dangerous’ manoeuvre close to an Australian military aircraft
A Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon plane (file image) was flying over the South China sea when the Chinese jet approached
Defence Minister Richard Marles called the manoeuvre ‘unsafe and unprofessional’
The federal government has complained about the incident to the Chinese embassy in Canberra and made representations via the Australian embassy in Beijing.
Pressed on how close the flares were released from the Australian plane, Mr Marles declined to specify an exact distance, but said it was ‘very close’.
‘We’re talking about a P8 aircraft … it is a large jet aircraft which is not particularly manoeuvrable in an instant and the proximity of these flares meant that it was unsafe,’ he said.
In a separate 2023 incident, Australian Navy divers suffered minor injuries after a Chinese warship blasted sonar pulses while they were underwater, an act labelled reckless by defence officials.
