The Australian navy is shadowing Chinese warships 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, the furthest China’s navy has sailed down the eastern Australian coast.
Two Australian ships are following a Chinese naval task group — comprising two warships and a supply vessel — that appeared off the north-east coast of Australia a week ago, according to people familiar with the situation.
One person said it was “unprecedented” for the Chinese navy to sail so far down Australia’s east coast and stressed that Beijing was normalising its projection of power beyond the first Pacific island chain, which stretches from Japan to Indonesia, and the second island chain, which runs from Japan through Guam to Micronesia.