‘China to join exercises involving US off Australia’

Australia says China’s navy will participate in military exercises to be conducted by 26 countries off Australia’s northern coast later this month but would not take part in the live-fire drills of the war games.

“China is expected to participate in a range of activities including passage exercises, inter-ship communications and replenishment activities and sea-training maneuvers,” Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said in a statement on Thursday.

The naval exercises, being hosted by Australia, also include Canberra’s major ally the United States, which has been at odds with Beijing on an array of issues. Washington excluded Beijing from its military training drills around Hawaii back in May in response to what the White house perceives as China’s alleged militarization of islands in the South China Sea.

“There are no plans for China to participate in live-fire activities,” Payne further said, without giving more details, but she added that the participating countries had “built a productive defense relationship that... facilitates transparency and builds trust.”

Relations between Beijing and Canberra also took a dive in December last year when Turnbull expressed concerns about “Chinese influence” in Australia’s domestic politics. Beijing at the time summoned Australia’s ambassador to China to protest the allegation.

Canberra further infuriated Beijing when it passed a raft of laws aimed at thwarting alleged Chinese influence in Australia’s domestic affairs and also over China’s purported assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Bilateral relations were further damaged in January when a senior Australian minister called Chinese infrastructure projects in the Pacific “white elephants,” prompting Beijing to file a formal diplomatic protest.

China-Australia relations not in deep chill: PM Turnbull

The Australian prime minister says there are some tensions in relations with China, but no deep chill exits.

Furthermore, Australia has offered diplomatic support to US “freedom of navigation” voyages through the South China Sea — which anger Beijing — and its own vessels encountered Chinese warships there in April.

However, Australia stuck with an invitation it had sent to China last September for participation in the upcoming drills, potentially a sign that Canberra is not interested in further escalation.

The exercises are scheduled to be held in strategic waters north of Darwin, where a decision to lease the city’s port to a Chinese company drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, even though the Chinese Landbridge Group ultimately acquired a 99-year lease on the port.

The drills will run to mid-September.

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