Australian defence officials have monitored the progress of the vessels as they traversed the coastline.
Three Chinese naval vessels have traversing the north and eastern coastline of Australia over the past week, has most recently been spotted 150 nautical miles (277 kilometres on land) off the coast of Sydney.
It is the furthest a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) vessel has sailed down the Australian coast outside of an official visit.
On Feb. 13, the Australian Department of Defence revealed it was monitoring the progress of the three People’s Liberation Army-Navy vessels as they sailed through the Coral Sea north of the country, and within Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
The small fleet includes the heavily armed Renhai-class cruiser (named Zunyi), a Jiangkai-class frigate (Hengyang), and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu.
The sighting of the vessels comes about a week after the Defence Department revealed that a Chinese fighter jet fired off flares just 30 metres from an Australian surveillance aircraft carrying out a routine inspection in the South China Sea—international waters.
While on Feb. 18, a Chinese helicopter flew just 10 feet from a Philippine Coast Guard plane carrying journalists.
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In response to the small flotilla’s actions, Professor Rory Medcalf, head of the ANU National Security College, told the ABC that Beijing was sending an “unsubtle signal that it is normalising the ability to project military power fairly much anywhere off the Australian coastline.”
“A confronting strategic future is arriving fast. This flotilla will likely also visit Pacific island countries,” he said.
The actions of the warships comes just days after the 23rd Australia-China Defence Strategic Dialogue in Beijing on Feb. 17, attended by Australia’s Vice Chief of the Defence Force Robert Chipman, and Deputy Secretary Strategy Hugh Jeffrey.
The CCP delegation was led by General Xu Qiling.
Both sides exchanged views on bilateral, global, and regional security issues, as well as military transparency and communication.
