Australia's snooping courts calamity: China Daily editorial

It has become Australia's habitual practice to hype up a threat from China, so the country's latest "crying wolf" over a Chinese fighter jet's "dangerous intercept" of an Australian military aircraft in airspace over the South China Sea is just another bid by Canberra to smear China and mislead the international community.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Australian Department of Defense said a Royal Australian Air Force P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter during "routine maritime surveillance activity" in international airspace in the South China Sea region on May 26.

Then, without mentioning the purpose and the specific location of the Australian military craft, the Australian side claimed that "the intercept resulted in a dangerous maneuver that posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew".

Such a one-sided statement lays bare Canberra's arrogance.

If the Australian side believed its military craft was put in a dangerous position during its encounter with the Chinese plane, then the converse must also be true. The Australian aircraft endangered the Chinese jet.

Since the encounter occurred on China's doorstep, it is natural to ask what on earth was the Australian surveillance aircraft up to.

Perhaps, data from earlier this year would shed some light on the matter: From Feb 24 to March 11, Australian military aircraft have visited the East China Sea north of the island of Taiwan six times to conduct close-in reconnaissance activities.

This is not the first time that Canberra has behaved like a villain who brought a suit against his victim first. In February, Australia's military said a Chinese navy vessel fired a laser at one of its aircraft, putting the crew in danger. But after China's Ministry of National Defense released photos showing the Australian jet was the one that staged the malicious provocation by dropping sonobuoys near two Chinese naval vessels sailing east across the Arafura Sea, the Australian side became muted.

Such encounters involving military aircraft and vessels risk an unintended incident. It does not need a military expert either to warn countries such as Australia, which have developed a penchant for being peeping Toms in the South China Sea, that their heightened military presence in China's vicinity is courting a mishap.

Their endless close-in surveillance, tracking and following of Chinese military aircraft and vessels conducting normal operations in China's sovereign and international waters and airspace are heightening the risks of an accident, putting military personnel from both sides in an increasingly dangerous situation and casting a shadow over regional peace and stability.

If the Australian military and others continue to conduct such high-risk missions, the number of such encounters will only increase, making it all the more likely that they will lead to a calamity.