A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aeroplane was brightened on Thursday while gliding over Australia's northern tacks by a beam from a People's Liberation Army–Navy (PLA-N) vessel, possibly endangering lives, the defence bureau told. The Australian defence bureau told that the episode was an act of invasion that could jeopardize lives. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated China of flickering a laser at one of its oversight planes, citing the episode as an “act of intimidation”.
Morrison said media on Monday that his administration had not obtained a justification from China over the event that took place on February 17, which Australia deemed “dangerous and reckless”. He called for a thorough inquiry from China.
“I guess the Chinese administration is wishing that nobody discuss these hostile intimidating acts,” Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton told on Sunday, naming the event “very aggressive”.
China’s asserted against the alleged claims
Beijing rejected the allegations as “not substantial” and upheld the Chinese ship’s activities as “usual navigation … in cord with pertinent international law”.
A representative for China’s defence ministry also asserted an Australian P-8 patrol airliner had arrived within 4km (2.5 miles) of the vessel and was confronted in “heinous provocations” that “posed a threat” to security.
“We expect Australia to regard the lawful rights of Chinese tankers in pertinent sea regions by international law and avoid circulating erroneous information pertinent to China,” foreign ministry representative Wang Wenbin told at a press briefing on Monday.
Deteriorated relations
China had been impeached in 2019 attacking Australian aeroplanes employing military-grade beams over the South China Sea.
Ties between China and Australia have nosedived in later years after Morrison ordered for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which was first published in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
China reacted by placing taxes on Australian goods worth billions of dollars, pulling both countries into a prolonged trade impasse.
Beijing also responded with resentment last year when Canberra entered a trilateral defence agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom that would permit it to obtain nuclear-powered torpedoes, to react to China’s thriving military power in the Asia-Pacific area.