China accused an Australian military aircraft of conducting dangerous maneuvers, escalating a dispute over a recent incident involving the nations' two militaries.
"What truly happened was an Australian military aircraft deliberately
flew within close range of China's airspace in a provocative move that endangered China's maritime air security in the name of enforcing a UN Security Council resolution," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing on Tuesday.
Australia's Defence Department said earlier that a People's Liberation Army
aircraft intercepted one of its helicopters in the Yellow Sea on May 4 and "released flares along the flight path." But Lin said the Chinese aircraft took "necessary measures" to alert the Australian chopper. He added that Beijing lodged a "serious protest" with Australia.
China's Defense Ministry also said in a statement on Tuesday its actions were reasonable and safe, and
accused the Australian helicopter of conducting reconnaissance of military training.
China's response comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia had expressed its concern to Beijing through diplomatic channels, describing the incident as both "unprofessional" and "unacceptable."
Albanese said Australian defense personnel shouldn't be at risk when they're "going about their job." The helicopter
was operating from an Australian naval vessel enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea, Australia's Department of Defence said in a statement.
The incident came after Australia's chief of navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, met with the head of China's navy, Admiral Hu Zhongming, at a naval symposium last month in Qingdao.
Hammond stressed the importance of "safe and professional behavior" between the two navies, according to Australia's Department of Defence. He mentioned an incident in November where two Australian navy divers were injured by sonar pulses from a Chinese naval vessel.
The Chinese reaction on Tuesday was similar to how Beijing responded to the earlier incident. Back then,
China told Australia to "stop making trouble in front of China's doorsteps and work with China to preserve the momentum of improving and growing China-Australia ties."
It followed up by calling the Australian comments "irresponsible accusations."
Comment: In just the past week or so, the UK has accused China of hacking its Ministry of Defense computers; Japan violated Chinese territory when officials
visited a contested island; Canada
accused China of 'maybe' interfering in its elections; and a month or so ago the US decided to station its military within
striking distance of its coast - as just a few, recent examples - which, taken together, lead one to conclude that, even for the belligerent West and its lackeys, these provocations are increasing and escalating.
And this, perhaps not coincidentally, is occurring alongside a number of other notable developments including: NATO aggression forcing Russia to
schedule a nuclear drill; the West seemingly
priming the world for false flags to blame on Russia; Israel's new carpet bombing of Rafah; and the West unleashing its draconian security apparatus against anti-genocide protesters:
China is preparing its economy for 'something major' - Newsweek
China under the wise leadership of Xi Jinping has emerged as the paramount leader of world civilization and the shared future of humanity.
From its stance against NATO expansion, to its just position on the Palestinian issue, it has assumed a genuine position of global responsibility.
It is emerging as the principal moral and spiritual guide of all humanity in terms of the precedent it sets in assuming a far-sighted and global outlook for the shared future of all mankind.
It is not replacing US global hegemony.
It is accomplishing what the latter was never able to accomplish- a position of global leadership based not on military force, political coercion of aggression, but genuine moral and spiritual preeminence.
With the collective West's refusal to take responsibility for, and even enablance of the genocide in Gaza, it has lost the Mandate of Heaven on the global stage.
It's calls for human rights, democracy, freedom and humanitarianism are simply no longer taken seriously.
It's unilateral pretensions are nakedly exposed as disguising the raw economic self-interest of a monopoly capitalist cartel.
China's leadership derives from leading the effort to establish a truly multi-lateral and multi-polar form of shared global responsibility.
Anyone is free to opt-in or opt-out. But the benefits of opting in clearly outweigh being left out.
The US regime and its allies are increasingly becoming pariah states on the global stage.
Liberal democracy has lost the status of a truly post-historical and universal paradigm of political existence.
The Palestinian struggle has finally exposed the fundamental contradictions of liberal 'civilization' in a way that is indisputable even from the liberal standpoint itself.
China is the Middle Kingdom of all human civilization. It has acquired the status of a truly universal power, attending to the basic premises - which are principally economic, but include good governance - shared by all civilizations.
It imposes no prescriptions upon the cultures, norms, religions, ways of life, and political characteristics of any given country. It only offers the ABILITY to participate in a shared global community, through win-win economic cooperation.
It offers the ABILITY for nations to develop, in the first place, regardless of how they do it.
A confrontation between the US regime and China is not simply a confrontation between great powers.
It is a confrontation between a dictatorship of banksters and the whole wealth of human civilization.
China - is a wise entity - sends up flares first - but do you not realize....
China could OWN Australia in a heart-beat physically and there ain't a damn thing Uncle Sam - sick slave-holder I reckon could do bout it....
In real combat - you know - bullets a blazing and missiles a flying - proximity is the most telling factor - cause logistically China is much closer - physically as well - to Australia
DUH