Australia Lost Its Balls to Chinese Navy

 A "borrowed" 😂😂😂 blog post from Johnson Choi:

Business Blog

Australia Lost Its Balls to Chinese Navy

February 26th, 2025

Australia Lost Its Balls to Chinese Navy. Freedom of navigation is a good thing, but you can’t just defend it when your own warships are parked at someone else’s doorstep, right? This weekend, the Chinese navy kindly raised this issue with Australia and received a satisfactory response. At least, their official reply was quite satisfying to the Chinese. 澳洲輸給了中國海軍。航行自由是好事，但不能把自己的軍艦停在別人家門口就去捍衛它吧？本週末，中國海軍向澳洲善意地提出了這個問題，並得到了滿意的回應。至少，他們的官方答覆讓中國人還是滿意的. Feb 26 2025

On February 21 and 22, the Chinese Navy conducted two live-fire exercises in the international waters between Australia and New Zealand.

By Western standards, military drills in international waters with prior notices are not just normal, but essential for safeguarding freedom of navigation, but they seem to have a problem when it was China who tries to have a shot at the noble task.

For instance, U.S. news agency Associated Press News falsely claimed that airliners were warned of flying over a “secret live-fire exercise.”

In contrast, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Australian military detected the ships a week before the exercise and that China had issued safety warnings in advance to Australian airlines including Qantas, Jetstar. These details are available to the public and not hidden behind any paywall.

Moreover, the Chinese Navy’s planned exercise was communicated through radio broadcasts, meaning anyone with access to a radio—whether fishermen, pilots, or divers—could receive the notice. It’s baffling how AP News can call it “secret.”

What’s even more perplexing is the reaction from certain Australian politicians. Shadow Minister for Defense Andrew Hastie labeled the Chinese military exercise as a “provocation.” Meanwhile, Andrew Wallace, the deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, pointed out the hypocrisy of Australia criticizing China’s actions while conducting its own military operations far from its shores.

For those at AP News who may have missed this “secret,” on February 7, warships from the U.S., the Philippines, Japan, and Australia participated in a joint maritime exercise in the South China Sea. On February 11, an Australian military aircraft entered Chinese airspace over the Xisha Islands without permission. As Wallace put it, “We can’t talk about freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and then criticize China over an exercise like this. They haven’t done anything wrong.”

Interestingly, Hastie also accused Beijing of using “gunboat diplomacy” to test U.S. allies like Australia. It’s a curious statement, considering that while Australia has tried hard to prove its loyalty to the United States, the U.S. has never truly regarded Australia as an equal ally.

Australia, a member of AUKUS, an alliance built on a contract of dealing second-hand nuclear submarines. To obtain three U.S. Virginia-class submarines, Australia will spend a staggering $368 billion. But despite Australia’s lofty expectations, a report published by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in January, titled An Analysis of the Navy’s 2025 Shipbuilding Plan, states that the larger Columbia class SSBNs are US Navy’s “highest acquisition priority”, and “the sale of SSNs to Australia could reduce the number of attack submarines available to the Navy.” Which translates as “we’re busy, don’t come bother us, just wait.”

Australian Greens Senator David Shoebridge called the report “damning,” arguing it further demonstrates that Australia’s nuclear-submarine plans are unraveling. Even though Australia has already invested about $3 billion in the first 4 years, the U.S. shipbuilding industry is nowhere near producing enough nuclear submarines to meet demand, with no clear solution in sight.

Buying submarine is not ordering Panda Express, and it’s hard to find an alternative supplier, especially after they tore up the contract with France in 2021.

On February 22, Australian PM Anthony Albanese reiterated that China had adhered to international law, emphasizing that no Australian assets were in danger. Defense Minister Richard Marles also clarified that Chinese ships did not enter Australia’s territorial waters.

New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon also said on February 24 that “there is nothing illegal here in terms of they are compliant with international law,” See? That $3 billion was not completely wasted. At least they learned a valuable lesson: America’s promises are unreliable, so behave yourself.