- Claims by the Australian Government that the Navy was enforcing sanctions against North Korea have been heavily refuted
- Australian Navy spying on Chinese Coastal defence and military exercises occurred at the behest of the USA’s Seventh Fleet
- IPAN calls for the cancellation of hostile spying activities in the South China Sea
Official claims by the Australian government that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was in the Yellow Sea as part of “the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea’[i] have been heavily refuted by experienced experts, according to the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN).
Instead, it is argued that the RAN was spying on Chinese Coastal defence and military exercises at the behest of the USA Seventh Fleet, when the Chinese reacted and warned off the Australian Navy helicopter by dropping a flare, with use of flares recognised by the Federal Aviation Authority as a safe and professional method of communication.
Richard Bardon Researcher, fact-checker, editor, Australian Alert Service, weekly magazine of the Australian Citizens Party
“[T]the Albanese government, the Liberal Party opposition, Canberra’s defence and security establishment, and their sundry media propagandists…claim the RAN was there as part of an international mission to enforce sanctions the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has imposed upon North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK) since 2006 to curtail its nuclear weapons and associated ballistic missile programs; and they pretend—but carefully avoid stating outright—that that mission enjoys a UNSC mandate.”[ii]
“In reality [the mission] was instigated in 2019 by the USA as a quasilegal pretext for elements of the US Seventh Fleet and its auxiliaries to traipse about in China’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), whence to gather intelligence on Chinese coastal defences and ship movements. In so doing, they have explicitly violated the terms for implementation of the UN sanctions they claim to be enforcing; and also certainly the spirit, and arguably the letter, of international maritime law as prescribed by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)”.[1]
“What almost every report on the incident in either mainstream or alternative media has failed to acknowledge, is that “Australia has no business gallivanting about the world enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea in the first place—not on the high seas (so-called “international waters”) except in relation to Australian-flagged vessels, and not at all inside China’s (or any other nation’s) EEZ, where the incident is acknowledged to have occurred”.
Retired Major Cameron Leckie served 24 years in the Australian Army retiring with the rank of Major.
“The Australian Government is withholding key information on this incident such as exactly where it took place and what the helicopter was doing. Why is this the case?
“This incident appears to be a result of actions taken by the Royal Australian Navy that could reasonably be expected to elicit a response from the People’s Liberation Army–Navy. In other words this is a provocation. Perhaps the aim was to provoke a response, which the sinophobic hawks in both parliament and media can use as a tool to expand on the China as threat narrative.”
“This incident was entirely avoidable. Australia has a 6000km plus buffer with China. Perhaps we should use that to our advantage to avoid future incidents of this kind which could result in a loss of life or a major international crisis of no benefit to Australia.”
John Lander Former Deputy Ambassador to China (1974-76) and former Ambassador to Iran (1985–87)
“So the anti-China brigade have a meltdown over flares a safe 300 metres from a helicopter. What is an Australian helicopter doing in China’s waters, more than 8000 kilometres from Australia? The intrusion of an Australian helicopter into China’s EEZ, very close to where China was conducting a naval exercise in its own territorial waters, was a provocative act, probably motivated in part as an attempt to sour the atmosphere for the up-coming visit of Premier Li Qiang to Australia.”
“The USA has not signed the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China HAS, and arrogantly talks of ‘freedom of navigation’ in seas thousands of kilometres from its own coastline. If it is concerned about its security, just like Australia, then they should both be patrolling their own coastlines and stop aggressively and purposely orchestrating conflict scenarios and then pretending to be ‘victims’”.
Dr Albert Palazzo Former Director, War Studies in Aust Army Research Centre
“The 2024 National Defence Strategy calls on the ADF to contribute to the maintenance of the US-led global rules-based order. The government should explain how sending a ship 8,000 kilometres into the East China Sea can possibly contribute to this objective and why such a distant patrol is in Australia’s interests.”
IPAN calls on the Australian government to cancel its hostile spying activities in the South China Sea which is at the behest of the US Seventh Fleet and recall the Australian Navy to operate in Australia territorial waters for true defence of our territory. Spying operations in the South China Sea can only led to confrontation and possible break out of hostilities between Australia and China, which is in no-one’s best interests.
For Media Interviews:
Richard Bardon: 0427 014 939
Retired Major Cameron Leckie: 0413 226 546
John Lander: 0400 297 073
Dr Albert Palazzo: 0407 450636
Media Liaison: Jonathan Pilbrow (IPAN) 0403 611 815
Full Bios:
Richard Bardon is a researcher, fact-checker and editor of the Australian Alert Service, the weekly magazine of the Australian Citizens Party.
Retired Major Cameron Leckie served 24 years in the Australian Army retiring with the rank of Major. A member of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, he concluded his service as the Executive Officer of the 1st Signal Regiment. He deployed to East Timor (Operation WARDEN), the Solomon Islands (Operation ANODE) and Sumatra (Operation SUMATRA ASSIST). He is a member of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network and a Committee Member of Australians for War Powers Reform.
John Lander worked in the China section of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the lead-up to the recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1972 and several other occasions in the 1970s and 1980s. He was deputy ambassador in Beijing 1974-76 (including a couple of stints as Chargé d’Affaires). He was heavily involved in negotiation of many aspects in the early development of Australia-China relations, especially student/teacher exchange, air traffic agreement and consular relations. He has made numerous visits to China in the years 2000-2024.
Dr Albert Palazzo is the Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW-Canberra. He was formerly the Director of War Studies in the Australian Army Research Centre, a part of the Future Land Warfare Branch in Army Headquarters.
[1]Note: Australia is a signatory to the UNCLOS
[i] Statement on unsafe and unprofessional interaction with PLA-Air Force | Defence
[ii] Australian naval ops in Yellow Sea are aimed at China, not North Korea, 15 May 2024 article by Richard Bardon, published in Australian Alert Service, Vol 26. No 20, citizensparty.org.au