Naval divers working to clear fishing nets from the HMAS Toowoomba's propellers were forced to exit the water when a Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar, in an incident labelled "unsafe and unprofessional".
Pricks. This may be my bias speaking but I’m convinced the Chinese navy would get worked in an actual conflict.
Either way, I don’t see how they find pissing off every single one of their regional neighbors to be a productive policy. Say what you want about US hegemony, but at least they offer carrots here and there. The CCP expects everyone to thank them for beating them with a stick.
You know 20 years ago I lived there and everyone was so kind, hopeful, and excited for the future. They saw their lives improving and their freedoms growing. When Obama was elected people would stop me in the street, give me a thumbs up. They knew enough that it was a big deal for Americans. They felt a part of the world and hopeful for the future.
Then Xi comes to power, locks down everything, youth get fucked, 24/7 propaganda against the west. Last time I was there for work before the pandemic and people were stopping me in the street to tell me how much more powerful China was over America. Shout nasty things to me in Chinese randomly. He really is a dictator and fucked those people over. My friends are extremely cautious on what we discuss over the phone or by email now. We don't need our own Xi rising to power again here.
HMAS Toowoomba had been operating in international waters off Japan in support of a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions when the incident occurred on Tuesday.
Naval divers were working to clear fishing nets from the Australian frigate's propellers, when the Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar.
According to Defence Minister Richard Marles, the Australian frigate provided multiple warnings to vessels in the area that diving operations were underway.
The incident comes less than a fortnight after Anthony Albanese made the first official visit to Beijing by an Australian prime minister in seven years, meeting President Xi Jinping.
The discussion was described by the prime minister as one of 'goodwill', and President Xi credited Mr Albanese for working to stabilise the relationship between the two countries after years of rising tensions.
In May last year, tensions between Australia and China were heightened by the presence of a Chinese surveillance ship operating off the West Australian coast, close to a secretive naval communications base at Exmouth.
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Sonar is fucking terrifying. It's lethal to marine life as well as humans, and the fact that we're happy to spam it out into the ocean is an ecological tragedy.
That's not exactly how it works. There are "territorial waters" which are entirely under the control of the state. And there is the "exclusive economic zone" (EEZ) outside of that, where the state has rights to resources. But the surface is "international waters". This incident happened in the EEZ.
EEZ does not restrict the operations of other boats, as has been repeatedly established by the US in the Taiwan Strait, the Paracel Islands, the Spratly Islands, and elsewhere in the South China Sea.