A high-tech Chinese surveillance ship is making its way to the edge of Australia’s east coast for upcoming military exercises this week

The Australian Military has been closely monitoring the Chinese surveillance ship for several days. However, they expect the ship will remain outside official Australian waters.

Chinese authorities sent the vessel to monitor war games ‘Talisman Sabre’ between Australia and the United States that will begin today. Australia’s Defence Minister, Peter Dutton says he’s aware the ship called Tianwangxing is “approaching Australia’s east coast via the Torres Strait.”

Australia “respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation”, said Dutton. “We expect others to respect our right to do the same”.

Australia continues to monitor the situation

Dutton also says that the country’s defence forces “have been monitoring its approach for several days”. This comes as part of Australia’s broader surveillance effort. China’s surveillance ship has advanced communications mechanisms which can intercept radio signals.

“We fully expected a ship of this class to arrive in our region during the exercise and have planned for its presence,” Mr Dutton said. Similar ships have made their way to Australia in the past for previous military exercises between Australia and America.

The Chinese surveillance ship is keeping a deliberately low profile

An anonymous military official told the ABC the Chinese surveillance ship is not responding to calls. Rather, it’s “insisting that it is operating in accordance with international maritime law”.

One anonymous official told the ABC that the ship is keeping a deliberately low profile.

“The ship is in full EMCON (emissions control) at the moment, only broadcasting signals it absolutely has to,” the official said. “[It is only] responding to calls and hails by insisting that it is operating in accordance with international maritime law”.

Australia’s war games

Talisman Sabre is described as “Australia’s largest war-fighting exercise”. However, this year Australia has scaled back the number of international participants due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event will include forces from Canada, the US, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the UK. Australia expects the Chinese surveillance ship to monitor the games over the next two weeks.

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