The latest incident, on 11 February, involved an Australian P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft conducting a “routine maritime surveillance patrol in the South China Sea” when it encountered a PLA-AF J-16 fighter aircraft, a statement from the defence department on Thursday afternoon said.
The defence department has accused the Chinese navy of another “unsafe and unprofessional” incident where flares were allegedly dropped near an Australian aircraft on routine operations in the South China Sea on Tuesday.
It was understood Australia’s defence department believed the Chinese ships were operating in accordance with international law, conducting freedom of navigation exercises.
Marles told Sky the government did not believe the flare incident and the Chinese ships’ arrival off Australia’s coastline were related, despite Defence’s simultaneous release of information about both.
Defence also released information about three Chinese ships it has been monitoring in the Coral Sea, to Australia’s north, for several days.
