New Delhi: The May 6 sighting of a high-tech People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) spy ship, about 6,500 km away from its home base, just 50 nautical miles from the Western Australian city of Exmouth, has revealed the extent to which PLAN ships operate to pry intelligence information.
Australian defence minister Peter Dutton has described the Chinese spy foray as an “act of aggression”. While Australia’s territorial suzerainty would extend up to 12 nautical miles into the territorial sea, its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends to up to 200 nautical miles. Australia will hold its federal election on May 21 to elect members to its 47th Parliament.
Exmouth is home to the Harold E. Holt Communications Station, which is a centre for communication transmission services among Australian, US and other submarines of friendly nations including those belonging to the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ or ‘Quad’ countries that includes India.
An Australian Department of Defense release on Friday said: “Defence is actively monitoring the current activities of the Chinese Intelligence Collection Vessel off the north-west coast of Western Australia with a combination of air and maritime capabilities… Defence will continue to monitor the ship’s operation in our maritime approaches.”
Interestingly, the auxiliary intelligence PLAN ship of the Dongdiao Class ‘Haiwangxing’—which translates to the planet ‘Neptune’ in Chinese—is not an unfamiliar one to the Australian navy or for that matter the Indian Navy.
In the ‘Talisman Saber 2021’ naval exercise between the navies of the US and Australia last held in July 2021, it was the ‘Haiwangxing’ that kept an eye on the US-Australia naval activity.
It is usually the ‘Haiwangxing’ that China uses to spy on the naval platforms during the Indian Navy-hosted Malabar exercises where the participating navies are from India, the US, Australia and Japan—all members of the ‘Quad’. Built by Hudong in Shanghai, the ‘Haiwangxing’ is deployed with China’s South Sea Fleet.
Besides the ‘Haiwangxing’, the PLAN’s snooping fleet comprises a fleet of five more sophisticated electronic reconnaissance vessels. They are Polaris (Beijixing), Uranus (Tianwangxing), Sirius (Tianlangxing), Mizar (Kaiyangxing) and a fifth one which is known only by its hull code of 855.
Commissioned on December 26, 2015, ‘Haiwangxing’ is capable of conducting “continuous all-weather reconnaissance of various targets within a certain range” and the ability to collect information of air, water and underwater assets. About 400 feet in length, Neptune has large bulbous structures that are believed to house advanced antennae to intercepting radar and radio signals broadcast by ships within its range.
Numerically, PLAN is the largest navy in the world with a battle force of about 355 ships and submarines, including approximately more than 145 major surface combatants. The platforms are mostly modern multi-role platforms. PLAN aims to increase its strength to 420 ships by 2025 and 460 ships by 2030.
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