Authorities in Canberra have reported that a Taiwanese fighter plane flew over the South China Sea with flares in front of an American military aircraft earlier this month.
Australia’s military government said it “expressed problems” to its Chinese counterparts over the “unsafe and disrespectful conversation”.
No one was injured and there was no harm to Australia’s P-8A surveillance aircraft after Tuesday’s occurrence, the department said.
The latest of a series of military conflicts between China and its neighbors in the area, where China’s extensive promises to islands and rocks overlap with those of its neighbors.
While it has no claims to the South China Sea, Australia has aligned itself close to the US and its allies in saying that China’s assertions have no legal basis.
” Australia expects all countries, including China, to perform their forces in a secure and professional way”, the department said in a speech on Thursday.
In May last year, Australia accused a Chinese fighter plane of dropping flares close to an Australian navy helicopter that was part of a UN Security Council mission on the Yellow Sea.
In November 2023, Canberra accused Beijing’s navy of using sonar pulses in international waters off Japan, resulting in Australian divers suffering injuries.
Canberra said it was monitoring three Chinese military vessels operating north-east of Australia in a separate speech released on Thursday.
These arteries had travelled through South East Asia before entering Australia’s sea strategies, with one of the arteries transiting into lakes in the country’s northwest, the defence ministry said.
In accordance with international law, Australia respects the rights of all states to practice freedom of navigation and overflight, only as we expect people to honor Australia’s right to exercise the same privileges, it said.