The Australian government revealed a week ago that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea and were approaching northeast Australia.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that the Chinese ships — the naval frigate Hengyang, cruiser Zunyi and replenishment vessel Weishanhu — were “off the east coast of Australia.”
Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, was 150 nautical miles (278 kilometers) east of Sydney.
“There is no doubt that this is, not unprecedented, but an unusual event,” Marles [said].
Marles said Australian navy ships and air force planes were monitoring the Chinese ships’ movements through international waters that are in Australia’s exclusive economic zone, the area beyond its territorial waters where a nation has exclusive economic rights.
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Fully agree with you here. Australian naval vessels go into waters off the south China coast often enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/23/south-china-sea-australian-warships-encounter-chinese-navy-in-disputed-waters
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-07/aus-us-japan-philippines-host-naval-drills-in-south-china-sea/103678236