Australia says China is likely to spy on its military drills with US
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The comments on Beijing by an Australian minister came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY – Australia’s government on July 13 said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the United States and other allies.
It also renewed a charge – denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” – that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific.
The comments by a government minister came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties.
More than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercise from July 13 across Australia and Papua New Guinea.
“The Chinese military has observed these exercises since 2017 and it would be very unusual if it didn’t do that this time,” said Mr Pat Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry and Pacific Island Affairs.
He told Australian public broadcaster ABC that the government will observe the Chinese military’s activities and monitor its presence around Australia.
“People observe these exercises to collect intelligence around procedures, around the electronic spectrum and the use of communications, and we’ll adjust accordingly so that we manage that leakage,” he added.
The strategically important South Pacific region is at the centre of a diplomatic scramble for influence pitting China against its Western rivals.
“We’re seeing, in my portfolio of the Pacific, China seeking to secure a military base in the region,” said Mr Conroy, who has previously made the same assessment.
“We’re working very hard to be the primary security partner of choice for the region, because we don’t think that’s a particularly optimal thing for Australia.”
China inked a secretive security pact with Pacific nation Solomon Islands in 2022.
Although the details have never been published, the US and close ally Australia fear it may be the prelude to some kind of permanent Chinese base.
Australia wants “a balanced region where no one is dominated and no one dominates”, Mr Conroy said.
The Chinese Embassy in Fiji in July insisted claims that it wanted to set up a military base in the region were “false narratives” driven by “ulterior motives”.
Beijing has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building sports stadiums, presidential palaces, hospitals and roads in Pacific island nations. Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Nauru have in recent years severed longstanding diplomatic links with Taiwan in favour of China. AFP
