Two Chinese 'spy' ships to monitor Australia's Talisman Sabre military exercises

Two Chinese ‘spy ships’ are expected to arrive off the Australian coast next week to monitor the activities of the Talisman Sabre military exercises that will open in Sydney on Friday. The People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) is planning to deploy two vessels in Australia over the course of the next few days, defence and security sources told ABC. The Australian Navy, however, is taking all the necessary steps to safeguard the interest of the country. The director of Talisman Sabre, Brigadier Damien Hill, said his team would take appropriate precautions to protect sensitive military information. “We monitor our borders very carefully and that includes nations such as the PLA operating — and as long as they do so in accordance with international law there will be no issues from us,” he said.

Trained and ready 💪 Ahead of #TalismanSabre2023 @AustralianArmy soldiers conducted integration training with the @USArmy as they prepare for the 10th iteration of the largest AUS-US bilateral exercise 🇦🇺 🇺🇸

📸 CPL Nicole Dorrett pic.twitter.com/pNNTSCrMWb

— Talisman Sabre (@TalismanSabre) July 20, 2023

Unnamed sources said that one of the two Chinese vessels might station off the Northern Territory coast while the other one will drop its anchor around Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay Training Area. “The exercise is quite expanded as far as geography is concerned — that’s part of the exercise construct itself — there’ll be activity from Western Australia to Norfolk Island,” Brigadier Hill said. This is not the first time Australia has witnessed a case of Chinese snooping. In 2021, the government said that it was keeping an eye on the Chinese military auxiliary general intelligence vessel. Meanwhile, as 30,000 personnel from 13 countries will take part in the Talisman Sabre military exercises, China has not made any official request to be an observer or a participant.

“They’ve never asked, so I don’t say never is never, but at this stage they haven’t asked to participate,” Hill said.

“But if they do, I’m sure that the powers-that-be will make a very careful decision,” he added.

More from World

India’s US envoy Kwatra discusses bilateral trade ties with US lawmakers Netanyahu accuses Hamas leaders of derailing ceasefire, says eliminating them in Qatar could end Gaza war

About Talisman Sabre The Talisman Sabre exercise is a biennial combined Australian and United States (US) training activity that is participated by allied forces.

#FriendsAlliesPartners working together ahead of #TalismanSabre2023 🇦🇺 🇫🇷 🇳🇿 Soldiers from the @AustralianArmy, @FANC_Officiel and @NZArmy conducted weapon familiarisation training at Townsville Training Area, QLD.

📸 CPL Nicole Dorrett pic.twitter.com/zxTdY1oMAq

— Talisman Sabre (@TalismanSabre) July 20, 2023

It is designed to train respective military force elements in planning and conducting Combined Task Force operations to improve combat readiness and interoperability between the ADF and its allies. It is a major combined (ie international) and joint (ie Army, Navy and Air Force and Marines) exercise involving thousands of troops on land, sea and in the air and major assets such as Australian and allied warships, fighters, bombers, helicopters and armour and artillery.