Brian Toohey

Australian politicians and officials have abandoned their earlier criticisms of Chinese spy ships trying to gather electronic intelligence about the Talisman Sabre series of military exercises, held every two years in Queensland.  One reason for the calmer response is that the spy ships do little harm or no harm. Another is that Australia does the same, only on a much bigger and more effective scale.
In this year’s exercises, which began on July 14 and will finish today, July 31, 17,000 military personnel from seven countries practised a joint military operation against China. The exercises were mainly held at Shoalwater Bay, on the coast of central Queensland, and included amphibious landings, air combat and ground manoeuvres. Asked about the presence of two Chinese spy ships in the vicinity of the military exercises, a Defence Department spokesperson said: “Australia supports and respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters and air space.”
The Defence minister, Peter Dutton, said he “did not” expect the spy ships to “impede the exercises”. The United States was confident a Chinese spy ship could not gather much useful intelligence during the 2019 exercise, otherwise it would not have let its supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan participate. During that exercise, a US serviceman told the ABC the Americans weren’t bothered by Chinese spy ships because, “They do it to us and we do it to them.” Nevertheless, the ABC gave extensive coverage of a spy ship’s presence during that exercise.
The belated acceptance of spy ships, provided they stay in international waters, is a long way from defence officials describing a Chinese spy ship’s presence during the 2017 exercise as “unfriendly” and “provocative”. That complaint was audacious – Australia has been far more provocative. In 1992, for instance, an Australian submarine was forced to surface in Shanghai harbour after becoming entangled in fishing nets.
Before retiring in 1991, the then prime minister, Bob Hawke, had ordered Oberon-class submarines to enter the harbour, despite the navy cautioning him about the risks.
For the US, access to Pine Gap and its intelligence is much more important than whether Australia provides some peripheral military forces to a new war.Talisman Sabre 21’s focus on amphibious warfare reflects US planning to prepare for a possible invasion of disputed islands claimed by China in the South China Sea, as well as a war over Taiwan. The US contribution to Talisman Sabre 21 featured its only forward-deployed amphibious ready group. As well as three of the US Navy’s big amphibious ships, the contribution included elements of the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. A US spokesperson said the goal of the exercises was to “integrate with the Australian, Canadian, Japanese and Korean navies to further enhance their ability to respond to crises as part of a combined effort”. This contrasts with the report from a US news site, Defense One, which said the lesson from a recent US war-gaming exercise was that gathering ships, aircraft and other forces to “concentrate and reinforce each other’s combat power also made them sitting ducks”.
Australia’s navy sent big amphibious and transport ships and other vessels. The air force’s contribution included F-35 fighters, Growler electronic warfare planes, maritime patrol planes and a Wedgetail early warning and control plane that can track multiple airborne and maritime targets simultaneously. The army contributed a wide range of equipment, including its own amphibious ships.