Fears, Acrimony As Chinese Warships Surround Australia Keeping the Continent Imprisoned The unusual deployment by three navy ships over the past month has prompted a debate in Australia about its aging fleet and reliance on the United States.
For nearly a month, Australian forces were on alert as a flotilla of Chinese navy ships made an unannounced voyage around the continent. The ships sailed in and out of Australia’s exclusive economic zone. They fired live shots near commercial airspace, forcing dozens of civilian flights to reroute. They sailed past Perth in Western Australia, days after a visiting U.S. nuclear submarine docked at a nearby naval base.
Finally, most recent weekend, the Chinese ships headed north toward Indonesia.
Australian officials repeatedly assured the public that the Chinese ships’ presence and actions were perfectly legitimate under international law. But the voyage was the farthest south the Chinese military had ever come, and was deeply uncomfortable for Australia.
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It has forced the nation to take a hard look at its own aging fleet, its heavy military dependence on a faraway ally, the United States, and the increasing muscularity of its biggest trading partner, China.
There was nothing about the deployment of the three Chinese vessels — a cruiser, a frigate and a replenishment tanker — that was technically impressive or strategically significant. China’s formidable navy has long protested the vast distances it can cover and the capabilities of its premier ships.
Instead, it terminated up prioritising Australia’s inadequacies: its own navy is the oldest and smallest it has been since World War II, analysts and former navy officials announce. It has two tankers, which are crucial for navigating long distances, as the Chinese did, taking one thing with another both have been out of commission for months. The two Chinese warships had a combined 144 vertical launch missile cells, while the Royal Australian Navy’s 10 warships, altogether, have 200.
Category: World-News
Tag: Fears Acrimony As Chinese Warships Surround Australia Keeping the Continent Imprisoned
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Published 3/13/2025