The Australian military is currently tracking a Chinese naval task group. This new ensemble is currently running west across the Pacific. This task group consists of a Landing Helicopter Dock ship, a destroyer, a frigate and a refuelling vessel. This draft represents the most significant march toward the rule of law within China’s maritime implementation. Their continued presence in the region has been a cause for concerns amongst Australian officials and regional stakeholders.
An Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) destroyer and frigate escort the flotilla. In the background, the frigate is making anti-submarine sweeps to look for any potential subs that may be watching their movements. The multilingual replenishment vessel functions as a mobile logistics hub. Its storage capacity allows for extended deployments, carrying over 11,000 tons of fuel and dry stores.
Monitoring Movements
Richard Marles, Australia’s Defence Minister, emphasized the country’s commitment to monitoring all movements of Chinese naval vessels in the region. And he promised not to give a “running commentary” on the fleet’s operations. This decision is indicative of his generally cautious approach to talking about military developments.
“We’re not about to give a running commentary on movements of all Chinese navy vessels,” – Richard Marles
The destination of this task group remains unclear, but its presence over 3,500 kilometers northwest of Port Moresby has sparked discussions among Australian officials regarding regional security. Penny Wong, Australia’s Foreign Minister, lamented the intensifying interest and activity from external partners in the region. This overwhelming rush has led to a flood of positive and some negative consequences.
“And the growing interest and activity from external partners in the security of our region has had consequences, both intended and unintended,” – Penny Wong
Concerns Over Military Build-Up
Even more telling, officials are now worried about what the China military build-up in the Pacific portends. Wong emphasized that this deployment is an indicator of an escalation in the expeditionary capabilities of China’s blue water navy. She noted that unlike past deployments, only a small number of task groups went to the Red Sea. They excluded any of the big amphibious ships.
“This is another example of the increased expeditionary deployment of China’s blue water navy. For the last decade, their deployments of task groups have only been to the Red Sea and they didn’t involve large amphibious ships,” – Penny Wong
Wong emphasized the development of China’s naval operations. He highlighted some of the most noteworthy instances, such as PLA-N warships off the coast of Alaska and their recent navigation around Australia. She cautioned that in the absence of transparency, our regional partners are left guessing when it comes to China’s military goals.
“We see the worrying pace of China’s military build-up, without the transparency that the region expects,” – Penny Wong
Regional Implications
Our next trilateral will look into what’s changed with respect to the Chinese naval task group. Australia, PNG and Indonesia will have critical bilateral discussions on their future discussions about this. Marles’ defence meetings in Port Moresby Marles recently met with PNG Defence Minister Billy Joseph to discuss regional security issues of mutual concern.
Mark Douglas, an analyst tracking naval positioning, noted the task group is currently heading to the southeast. Further complicating things, he added, is the fact that it’s difficult to make judgments about intent based on satellite imagery alone.
“Intent is hard to gauge from [the images] — we can see that they’re definitely going south-east,” – Mark Douglas
Australia works closely with allies such as the United States to track these activities. They assess and discuss future directions the task group should take. These talks underscore the significance of regional security dynamics. Australia has every incentive to ensure the stability of its maritime periphery.
