Three Chinese warships yesterday sailed out of Sydney after an unannounced visit that came amid a tussle for influence between Australia and China in the Pacific Ocean.
The show-of-force call by a frigate, supply ship and amphibious warfare vessel was planned, but never announced by the Australian government.
“That raised a lot of hackles,” Australian National University professor of international security and intelligence studies John Blaxland told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The ships arrived off Darling Point and other famous places in Sydney’s harbor without people knowing in advance ... and with armed soldiers and sailors on the decks of the ships looking fairly aggressive,” Blaxland said.
The vessels left for China under leaden skies in the afternoon.
The warships had arrived on the eve of the 30th anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Photographs showed members of Sydney’s Chinese community waiting at the navy wharf where the ships docked to greet the sailors.
“It was a reciprocal visit, because Australian naval vessels visited China,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters earlier this week in the Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara.
“So it may have been a surprise to others, but it certainly wasn’t a surprise to the government,” he added.
Ties between Australia and China hit a low last year, when Canberra passed laws aimed at thwarting Chinese influence in domestic affairs and also over China’s assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
Australia has offered diplomatic support to US “freedom of navigation” voyages through the region.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS