https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/s...navy-lvvm375t3
Sydney wakes up to surprise visit by the Chinese navy
Sydney commuters were greeted today by the arresting sight of three large Chinese warships sailing into the city’s harbour. Armed Chinese sailors could be seen patrolling onboard the vessels as they docked at the Garden Island naval base near the city centre.
The visit was requested by Beijing. However, it was unannounced by the Australian government, leading to suggestions that Canberra was embarrassed by the timing of the arrival. Military and political tensions between Australia and China have tightened in recent months, and Scott Morrison, the prime minister, was in the Solomon Islands yesterday on a trip aimed at curbing Beijing’s influence in the Pacific.
About 730 personnel were on board the three ships: the frigate
Xuchang, auxiliary replenishment ship
Luoma Hu and the landing platform dock
Kunlun Shan, which sailed into Sydney harbour soon after 8am.
Mr Morrison gave no reason for failing to announced the visit in advance. It arrived a day ahead of the 30th anniversary Beijing’s Tiananmen Square massacre which has a special resonance for the 40,000 Chinese students who were allowed to remain permanently in Australia after the army open fired on protestors.
The visit was requested by China as the ships completed anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Experts questioned why China would send a large fleet to Sydney which was far off their route home from east Africa. The head of Canberra’s National Security College, Rory Medcalf, said that a visit of this calibre was “actually quite something”.
He wrote on Twitter: “Chinese naval visits to Australia have more typically been a lone frigate, not a task group with an amphibious assault ship and 700 personnel. Sydney is hardly a convenient stopover on their way home from the Gulf of Aden. What’s the story here?”
The Chinese ships arrived as Mr Morrison was visiting the Solomon Islands north of Australia in what is widely soon as an effort to counter China’s influence over the small island nation and others in the Pacific.........