In a brazen affront, China has sent a second ship to spy on the high-voltage Australia-US war games taking place near the Queensland coast. Australian news website ABC.net.au reports that the PLA Navy vessel, named Haiwangxing, is being tracked by the Australian Defence Forces (ADF).

The Haiwangxing is expected to arrive near Australian waters anytime soon. This has alarmed Australia as last week they were keeping an eye on Chinese spy vessel Tianwangxing that had arrived in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) just before the military exercises had begun.

ABC News says that Australian naval officers think that it is "unusual" that two Chinese ships are monitoring the Talisman Sabre—touted to be Australia's largest military exercise.

Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, former commander-in-chief, Western Naval Command, told India Narrative that the world over military powers do monitor the exercises of other military powers. “They do this for two reasons—to monitor parameters of electronic equipment, like radars, so that in a hot war, they can disable them by using jammers. The other reason they spy is that procedures and tactical doctrines can be monitored and understood to some extent”.

The Talisman Sabre 2021 wargames, currently underway on the east coast of Australia, are being held with the defence forces of the US, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the UK. The high-profile military exercise, lasting nearly 18-days, involves nearly 17,000 troops. With the Indo-Pacific region becoming a hot spot of tensions, India, Indonesia, Germany and France are attending the exercises as observers.

For the first time, the US has fired its Patriot missiles before an excited Australian audience. The war games include practicing amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvres, urban operations, joint air combat and maritime operations. The aim also is to strengthen interoperability of the friendly defence forces.

Sinha says: “For China observing these games is of paramount importance. China does not hold military exercises with any other countries. It wants to understand how the navies of different countries coordinate between each other. By monitoring and spying on these war games, China can refine its own systems”.

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Even though Australia has allowed Chinese ships to monitor the biennial Talisman Sabre exercises, it has done so with alarm. China's spy ships have remained anchored in Australia's EEZ but have not come inside its territorial waters. Australia says as long as the ships do not indulge in economic activities, these can remain in its EEZ. Australian experts add that by remaining at a safe distance from the exercises, the Chinese spy ship is not breaking the laws of the sea.

Admiral Sinha agrees with the Australian assessment. He says that if the countries holding the exercises find that the Chinese vessels are interfering or trying to come within a designated area, they will be asked to leave. In such cases the nation holding the exercises may even fire a warning shot in the direction of the intruding vessel.

In the current geo-political climate, these war games are important for Australia and countries in the region. Australian-China relations have slid due to Australian concerns over the spread of Covid-19. China has increased transgressions afainst Taiwan, and Japan has been emphasising that China is posing a threat to world peace by ratcheting up ominous noises in the South China Sea. China also has been harassing the Philippines, Vietnam and neighbouring countries by sending its vessels into their maritime territories or by conducting flypasts close to their air space.

Of the four Quad countries, China has rubbed all of them the wrong way. China is sparring with the US and Australia over trade and economy; has transgressed into Indian territory and is threatening to take over Japan's Senkaku islands. It is no coincidence that all these countries are participating in the Talisman Sabre.