Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said that his government reached out to its Chinese counterparts in Beijing to raise their concerns over the Australian surveillance plane’s encounter with a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft.
Albanese called it a ‘dangerous maneuver’ and said that Canberra ‘through appropriate channels’ reached out to China.
On May 26, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8 aircraft was undertaking routine maritime surveillance activity in the region when a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force J-16 intercepted it.
Defense minister Richard Marles on Sunday further revealed that the J-22 jet released a ‘bundle of chaff which contains small pieces of aluminum’ and PM Albanese said that the action represented a safety threat to the aircraft and its crew. It also flew very close to the Australian aircraft before cutting in front of it, Marles revealed.
“The Department of Defense has for many decades undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region and does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace,” Albanese said.
This is not the first over the past few weeks that China has tried to threaten the security of countries which are deemed anti-Beijing.
Last week, the Chinese PLA Air Force (PLAAF) disturbed and harassed Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilots who under the Operation Neon-program were ensuring that sanctions imposed against North Korea were being implemented.
While a CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft was performing duties assigned to it under Operation Neon, a Chinese jet flew close to it, so much so that the Canadian jet altered paths to avoid a collision. .
Canadian armed forces media relations chief Dan Le Bouthillier said that Chinese fighter pilots behaved unprofessionally and their actions were ‘potentially risky’ while adding that the fighter jets flew close enough for the Canadian pilots to see the crew of the Chinese J-16.
However, altercations between China and Australia have increased. The latest incident adds to the list of incidents reported earlier this year where the Chinese air force and navy made threatening moves aimed at Australian forces.
Earlier in February, the PLAAF shined laser light on an Australian P-8A Poseidon – a maritime patrol aircraft and a Chinese spy ship was spotted sailing past a secretive naval communications base that provides support to submarines owned by the US and Australia’s defense allies.
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