China Dismisses Reports of Risky Aircraft Encounter with Australia
Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said an Australian naval vessel repeatedly launched helicopters to conduct close-range reconnaissance near Chinese maritime areas in both the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.
"These actions constituted continuous provocations and endangered China's national security," said Jiang.
According to Beijing, the operations were carried out under the justification of implementing sanctions linked to resolutions of the United Nations Security Council concerning North Korea.
However, Chinese officials argued that those resolutions do not permit countries to deploy military equipment for surveillance within waters or airspace that fall under another nation’s jurisdiction.
The statement from China came after Australia’s Defense Ministry reported an incident involving an interaction between aircraft earlier in the week. According to Australian officials, Canberra had raised concerns with Beijing after what it described as an "unsafe and unprofessional interaction" with a helicopter belonging to the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
Authorities in Australia said a helicopter operating from the frigate HMAS Toowoomba was intercepted by a Chinese naval helicopter on Wednesday while flying in international waters as part of Operation Argos.
Officials added that the Chinese aircraft reportedly approached at what they described as an unsafe distance and performed a maneuver that forced the Australian helicopter to take evasive action.
Canberra characterized the episode as “unsafe and unprofessional,” though officials confirmed that no injuries occurred and no equipment was damaged during the encounter.
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