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Comment on Australia accuses China of 'unsafe' fighter jet move

I couldn’t see an Australian source saying where in the sea this occured. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims this happened on the Paracel Islands:

“The Australian military airplane deliberately intruded into China’s airspace over Xisha Qundao (Paracel Islands) without China’s permission. Such move violated China’s sovereignty and undermined China’s national security,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun, according to a transcript.

“China has lodged serious protests with Australia and urged it to stop infringing on China’s sovereignty and making provocations and stop disrupting peace and stability in the South China Sea.”

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracel_Islands

The ownership of the islands remains hotly contested. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) on mainland China, Vietnam, and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan all claim de jure sovereignty, although the PRC has had de facto control of the archipelago since the Battle of the Paracel Islands in January 1974. In July 2012, China (PRC) established Sansha, Hainan Province, as administering the area. In February 2017, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported 20 outposts of the PRC built on reclaimed land in the Paracels, three of which contain small harbours capable of berthing naval and commercial ships.

Looking at where Australia is on a map, and that we had a surveillance jet flying near their (claimed, and effectively owned for over 50 years) territory, I understand why they’re telling our military to fuck off. Imagine if China started flying jets around the Timor Gap, I reckon we’d tell them the same.

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zero_gravitas@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yet another case of China aggressively placing its territory near American military assets. They must be stopped 😡😡😡

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- x4740N@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  I’m going to immediately downvote and disregard anyone who sources from sky news including you as they are known for right-wing news media bias
  
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shirro@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yep. Its a different hemisphere. Europe is closer to China than us. Why aren’t the Brits, French and Germans doing this?

For us to travel half way across the world to intrude into their airspace is clearly provocative and dumb considering they are a major export market and have a tiny military that would be better served protecting our national security. As Canada and Europe are finding out, the US alliance isn’t what it used to be. If China started shooting back, chances are Trump would leave us to fend for ourselves. We probably aren’t getting those submarines either.

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- zero_gravitas@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Europe is closer to China than us. Why aren’t the Brits, French and Germans doing this?
  
  Australia is slightly closer to any part of China than Germany is, but Australia is much closer to the Paracel Islands (Germany is about 9000km, Australia about 4000km).
  
  The rest of your comment is spot-on, though. There’s no way we’re getting those nuclear subs.
  
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  - shirro@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Oops. Sorry. Every time the media runs click bait about North Korean missiles hitting Australia I get the ruler out and see Europe and the western coast of the USA are closer than me. I recalled distances from Beijing to Sydney vs European cities, not the South China sea.
    
    Still there are over 600 million people living to the north of us in the ASEAN group, a couple of their countries having contested claims in the South China Sea. It is fucking weird that we fly past them all to go up there and swing our dicks around. It looks arrogant and it looks like we are the US’s bitches. When Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines ask us for help perhaps we should be good neighbors. Until then what the fuck are we even doing?
    
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Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
@eureka@aussie.zone

It’s amazing that you are citing the Chinese Ministry but could not find the Australian government’s response.

The Australian Government has expressed its concerns to the Chinese Government following an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a People’s Liberation Army – Air Force (PLA-AF) aircraft.

On 11 February 2025, a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft conducting a routine maritime surveillance patrol in the South China Sea experienced an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a PLA-AF J-16 fighter aircraft.

The PLA-AF aircraft released flares in close proximity to the RAAF P-8A aircraft. This was an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre that posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel.

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