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China Accuses Australia of Deliberate Provocation in South China Sea

Flags of Australia and China are displayed in this illustration picture taken May 11, 2023. (Reuters)
Flags of Australia and China are displayed in this illustration picture taken May 11, 2023. (Reuters)
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China Accuses Australia of Deliberate Provocation in South China Sea

Flags of Australia and China are displayed in this illustration picture taken May 11, 2023. (Reuters)
Flags of Australia and China are displayed in this illustration picture taken May 11, 2023. (Reuters)

China accused Australia on Friday of deliberately provoking it with a maritime patrol in the disputed South China Sea this week, saying the latter was spreading "false narratives", though Australia maintained its action adhered to international law.

The incident, in which Australia's defense minister said a Chinese PLA J-16 jet released flares within 30 m (100 feet) of an RAAF aircraft, comes amid ties strained by navy and air force interactions that Australia has called dangerous.

Friday's comments came a day after Australia flagged "unsafe and unprofessional" actions by the jet towards the patrol which it said was on routine surveillance in international waters on Tuesday, an account Beijing disputes.

"Australia deliberately infringed upon China's rights in the South China Sea and provoked China, yet it was the villain who complained first, spreading false narratives," said Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for the Chinese defense ministry.

Zhang accused the Australian military aircraft of ignoring the main routes in the busy waterway, saying it "broke into the homes" of others, and adding that China's response was reasonable and a legitimate defense of sovereignty.

"We urge Australia to abandon its illusion of speculation and adventure," Zhang said.

He urged Australia to restrain its frontline naval and air forces, instead of "stirring up trouble" in the South China Sea to the detriment of others and itself.

Before the Chinese comments, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters, "We regard this action as unsafe. We've made that clear."

Defense Minister Richard Marles said the Australian aircraft was in international airspace, adding, "There was no way that the pilot of the Chinese J16 could have been able to control where the flares then go."

The Australian military's exercise of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea comes with increasing risk, Marles said.

"We do it in accordance with international law," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an earlier interview on Friday.

"We're not the only country that does it. But it is really important that we are asserting the rules of the road, as it were."

China claims vast swathes of the South China Sea, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that its sweeping claims were not supported by international law.

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NASA's Stuck Astronauts are Finally on their Way Back to Earth after 9 Months in Space

In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
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NASA's Stuck Astronauts are Finally on their Way Back to Earth after 9 Months in Space

In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)

NASA’s two stuck astronauts headed back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to close out a dramatic marathon mission that began with a bungled Boeing test flight more than nine months ago.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to the International Space Station — their home since last spring — departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts. The capsule undocked in the wee hours and aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening, weather permitting.

The two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.

Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They checked out with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

“We'll miss you, but have a great journey home,” NASA's Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the Pacific.

Their plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work.” While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together. With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts.

Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away. Williams became the station's commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month.

Their mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration. The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.

Even in the middle of the political storm, Wilmore and Williams continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions from the start.

NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended, in order to have two competing US companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until it's abandoned in 2030 and steered to a fiery reentry. By then, it will have been up there more than three decades; the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.

Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space — a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families.

Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college. Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother. They’ll have to wait until they’re off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before the long-awaited reunion with their loved ones.