A Chinese military jet has detonated flares near an Australian Navy helicopter which was operating in international waters, forcing the pilot to take evasive action to avoid an accident.
Is this China bullying in international waters or are they supporting North Korea against UN Security Council sanctions which Members unanimously voted for?
If NK is still shipping munitions to Russia then this could be China helping Russia while pretending it is about water territorial rights.
Member state.. authorized to:
Inspect North Korea cargo on land, air, and sea, if the state has reason to believe that it contains prohibited items and seize any prohibited materials or technologies
Asked about the incident at the daily Chinese foreign ministry press conference, spokesperson Lin Jian said: "What truly happened was, an Australian military aircraft deliberately flew within close range of China's airspace in a provocative move that endangered China's maritime and air security in the name of enforcing UN Security Council resolutions."
Your quote doesn't seem to imply anything about North Korea and Russia. I would say it supports the idea that this is just China bullying people coming close to what they consider to be their territory.
The "you came close to your airspace so we scare you away" response seems like regular old territorial bullying to me. They know no country with a relevant navy or air force is going to risk going to war over just one aircraft, so they can do as they please. At worst they'll receive complaints in the next UN meeting that nobody is going to really care about.
They never claimed to have a problem with the UN resolution, they claimed that the ships and helicopter came closer to their airspace than they needed to to enforce the resolution.
If China wanted to block the UN resolution, they could've veto'd the entire thing for any reason.
In my quote the claim was that Australia was there enforcing the UN resolution. That resolution was made a long time ago, well before China took sides in the Ukraine war. Too late to veto the resolution now.
PS Admittedly my quote is not from a credible source. I haven't time to test its veracity.