Australian Navy 'watching every move' of Chinese ships off its east coast

Three vessels - the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu - were detected off north-east Queensland last week and have been under surveillance since as they have sailed south.

Marles said that Australian ships and aircraft are working "very closely" with New Zealand's military to monitor the Chinese naval task force transiting south off the east coast of Australia, according to Australian media reports.

"What we will do whenever this mission is over on the part of the Chinese task group is to engage in a full assessment of what the Chinese were seeking to achieve in respect of this mission. Both naval and air force assets have been deployed to make sure that we are monitoring exactly what is occurring here. And we are working with our other partners in the region, and we'll continue to do that for as long as the Chinese task force is in the vicinity of Australia," the Defence Minister said, as per an official statement.

On the other hand, when asked about the ships' presence, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun declined to comment, saying he was "not familiar" with the situation, as reported by the Australian media.

The Australian Ministry of Defence, in a statement last week said, it was aware of a People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) task group operating to the northeast of Australia and "can confirm the Chinese vessels are the PLA-N Jiangkai-class frigate named Hengyang; the PLA-N Renhai cruiser named Zunyi and the PLA-N Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu".

Tensions flared last week between both nations, when a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares nearing an Australian Air Force plane flying over the South China Sea. The Australian government expressed its concerns to the Chinese government, terming the Chinese military aircraft's action "unsafe and unprofessional".