April 1, 2025
Tuesday 1 April 2025
Ben Packham and Will Glasgow
The Australian
Defence has handed responsibility for the monitoring of a suspected Chinese spy ship to the Australian Border Force despite Anthony Albanese’s claim that the ADF is on the case.
Security experts have warned the dual-use Chinese research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao, currently operating off South Australia, is almost certainly gathering undersea data to assist in future Chinese submarine operations.
The vessel’s appearance off Australia’s coast throws a spotlight on national security as an election issue, and comes just weeks after the government learned from a Virgin Australia pilot about a live-fire exercise by Chinese naval vessels in the Tasman Sea.
Speaking on the hustings in Perth, Mr Albanese said the Australian Defence Force was “monitoring what is happening” with the Chinese ship.
“I would prefer that it wasn’t there. But we live in circumstances where, just as Australia has vessels in the South China Sea and vessels in the Taiwan Strait and a range of areas, this vessel is there,” he said.
“What our task is to do is to make sure that we represent Australia’s national interests. We do that each and every day.”
But Defence Minister Richard Marles’ office referred questions about the ship to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, saying it was Border Force’s responsibility because it was in Australia’s exclusive economic zone.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Albanese appeared to be confused about which agency was leading Australia’s response.
“There is a world of difference between monitoring a foreign vessel in our waters with Border Force instead of the Defence Force,” he said. “First we relied on Virgin Australia pilots, now he’s mixing up the ADF and the ABF. Anthony Albanese is just not across the details when it comes to national security.”
Responding to a question from The Australian in Beijing late on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Canberra should not be “suspicious” about the Chinese vessel.
“China carries out normal activities at sea in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS,” Mr Guo said. “We hope Australia will have a right understanding on this and stop the groundless suspicion and speculations.”
He refuted suggestions of Chinese interference during the election. “China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries’ domestic affairs,” Mr Guo said.
Mr Burke’s spokesman said the Chinese ship was being watched by Australian “agencies”, but declined to say what resources were being used. “We know exactly where it is, we know the direction it is heading, and the speed it’s moving in that direction,” the spokesman said.
He said similar vessels had operated off Australia before, including in 2020 under the former Coalition government.
The presence of the 94m Chinese ship off Australia was first revealed by Sky News, which reported it was charting a course similar to the route of Australia’s deep sea internet cables.
The ship is equipped with manned and unmanned submarines and, according to the China Daily, “serves as a base for the submersible, deep-sea expeditions and engineering”.
Former Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said the vessel’s research would be made available to China’s People’s Liberation Army, and its work was “probably shaped by PLA research priorities”.
“The PLA would be vitally interested in undersea oceanography off the Australian coast, including the Southern Ocean,” Mr Pezzullo said. “This would support submarine operations in wartime, mining of ports and sea lanes, and cable cutting.”
Former naval officer Jennifer Parker backed the assessment, saying the vessel was able to undertake critical sea bed surveys. “This allows China to understand the nature of the sea floor, which assists in submarine operations, but can also assist in understanding where Australia’s vital submarine cables are – some of which are publicly known, but likely not all.”
She said as a global maritime power, China’s civilian and military vessels were increasingly operating near Australia. “This is not a cause for alarm, but another signal that Australia is not protected by its geography,” she said. “We must accept the world is fundamentally changing and we must respond with investment in our defence capabilities to ensure we are able to meet the risks.”
Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby said it was unclear exactly what the ship was doing but its presence was an assertion of Beijing’s status as a great power. “As China becomes a bigger power, we can expect China is going to project power. This is all part of it. It has global interests,” he said.
The circumnavigation of Australia by three Chinese warships in February and March exposed Australia’s degraded defence capabilities, requiring the navy to rely on a New Zealand frigate to monitor the ships in the Tasman Sea. The government learned of the ships’ live-fire drill from a warning passed on by a Virgin pilot 40 minutes after the exercise window opened, while an alert from the New Zealand ship didn’t arrive until 50 minutes later.
The revelations, from Defence officials, contradicted the version of events provided by the Prime Minister, who said China provided notice of the drill “in accordance with practice”, and that the two warnings came through “at about the same time”.