(Sydney) Australia’s prime minister said China had committed an “act of intimidation” as the government in Canberra accused a Chinese ship of pointing a laser at an Australian military aircraft.
Posted on February 19
Deux navires de la marine chinoise voguaient jeudi au large de la côte nord australienne lorsque l’un d’eux a visé un avion de surveillance australien avec un laser, ce qui « pouvait mettre des vies en danger », a affirmé le ministère de aus Defense.
“I can only consider it an act of intimidation,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted, calling the action “unwarranted and unjustified.”
Defense Secretary Peter Dutton went further by condemning the “extremely aggressive act”. “I think the Chinese government hopes that no one will talk about these aggressive acts of intimidation,” he told Sky News television on Sunday.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the ships were heading east in the Aravura Sea, located north of the Australian port city of Darwin and bordering Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
At this stage, the Chinese authorities did not respond to the Australian accusations.
And Canberra previously accused China in 2019 of targeting Australian military aircraft with military-grade lasers. Air force helicopters were then targeted in the South China Sea, where tension has been rising for years.
In fact, China claims nearly all of this sea through which billions of dollars of trade pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim the region, which is rich in natural resources.
