Op-Ed: Australia Should Get Ready for More Run-Ins With China’s Navy

[By Joe Keary]

Australia can take three lessons from Chinese military behavior in the past two weeks.

China will keep conducting dangerous military maneuvers against us and other countries in the South China Sea; its actions will continue to differ from its words; and it is likely to send advanced Chinese warships to our region more often and for longer.

It has been an eventful fortnight in the China-Australia military relationship. First, on 11 February the Department of Defence reported the fifth known incident of unsafe behavior by China’s military towards the Australian Defence Force. On the same day the department reported that a powerful Chinese naval task group was operating in Australia’s northeastern maritime approaches.

On 17 February, Defence reported that it had restarted senior military talks with China. Talks were held at the level of vice chief of defence, and this marked the first time that senior-level dialogue had been held between militaries since 2019. Previous talks had occurred at the level of chief of defence, and working level talks have been held twice since 2019.

Finally, on 21 February and the followi…