Spy vs spy as China eyes US-Oz sea defense moves

China conducts deepwater surveys near secretive base US and Australian subs and ships use in South China Sea By ALAN BOYD

SYDNEY – China has stepped up its surveillance of strategic sea routes in the western Pacific only weeks after Australia announced a major upgrade of its northern air defenses that will help the United States to project more force into the region, including in the South China Sea.

Australia’s Defense Department confirmed it had been tracking a Chinese oceanographic ship for the past two months as it conducted deepwater surveys on a course from eastern China to the coast of Western Australia.

The route, which took the vessel through the Java Sea in the Indonesian archipelago to waters near the Australian territory of Christmas Island, is used regularly by Australian submarines transiting to the South China Sea.      

“Beijing is keen to know as much as it can about … these submarine routes, and it would also be wanting to test and monitor the Australian response to the presence of a high-tech Chinese vessel that’s loitering off its coast,” a defense official told the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Identified as the Xiang Yang Hong 01, the ship anchored in international waters off Naval Communication Station Harold E Holt, a secretive base on the North West Cape that sends very low frequency radio transmissions to Australian and American ships and submarines in the Indo-Pacific.

Formerly run by US defense agencies, it also houses a Space Surveillance Telescope, part of the US global Space Surveillance Network, that can track space traffic and debris. It is said to be operated remotely from an air force base.

USS Texas, an American fast attack submarine, was on a routine visit to the Stirling naval base near Perth during the Chinese ship’s activities.

The Xiang Yang Hong 01 was detected in the territorial waters of Palau in 2018, one of three Chinese ships that were then operating in the region. It withdrew when Palau’s government lodged an official protest in Beijing.  

Two other Chinese ships appeared off Papua New Guinea’s naval facility at Manus Island, which Australia and the US are upgrading and will jointly operate as a forward base for the South China Sea and Western Pacific.

Australia also confirmed late last month that it will spend A$1.1 billion (US$717 million) to upgrade the Tindal airbase in its Northern Territory so it can handle larger planes, including refueling aircraft and long-range US bombers. Some Australian F-35 joint strike fighters will be based at Tindal, reports said……more here

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