Second Chinese Military Incident Puts Australians at Risk, Shows Labor Unwilling to Stand Up for Australians

On Saturday evening, Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Hobart was in international waters in the Yellow Sea, between China and the Korean Peninsula, as part of the UN Operation Argos mission to enforce global sanctions against North Korea.

The Australian Defence Force reports that an Australian Navy Seahawk chopper was conducting a routine flight when a Chinese J-10 Fighter Jet began dropping flares only a few hundred metres in front of the Australian helicopter, forcing the pilot to take emergency and evasive action.

This comes after an incident in November 2023, during which the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-Navy) employed their hull-mounted sonar against Australian Navy divers, who were conducting a routine exercise in relation to a joint exercise with Japan.

Sunshine Coast MP, Andrew Wallace, who was the former Chair and now Deputy Chair of the Defence Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, criticised the Federal Labor Government’s response as underwhelming, unenthusiastic, and unbecoming of any national government.

“When the PLA-Navy injured Royal Australian Navy divers, the Government called it ‘unsafe and unprofessional’. Now, when the PLA-Air Force endangers the lives of Royal Australian Navy pilots and crew, the Government calls it ‘unsafe and unacceptable,’” Mr Wallace said.

“What will it take for this Labor Government to call out China point blank for their acts of aggression?” Mr Wallace questioned.

“Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and Richard Marles mince their words, and they mix their messages in some vain attempt at appeasement or submission,” Mr Wallace added, “Meanwhile, Australia’s finest are unnecessarily put in harm’s way.”

“Now is the time for courage and strong leadership, not dithering, weakness and second-guesses. After 2 years, it’s clear that Labor don’t have what it takes to lead Australia through the troubled waters which lay ahead,” Mr Wallace continued.

Mr Wallace is also the Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. In April 2024, Mr Wallace led an historic delegation to Taiwan to observe its military readiness and security capabilities, after returning from a visit to Israel and a secondment to the United Nations in the latter half of 2023.