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⚖️Paterson Backs Release of Military Confrontation Footage

⚖️Paterson Backs Release of Military Confrontation Footage

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The government "should release" video footage of the military incident in which an Australian Navy aircraft was attacked by flares dropped from a Chinese jet, according to shadow defence minister James Paterson.

The Australian government is under increasing pressure to make video of the deadly military confrontation between a Chinese fighter jet and an Australian Navy helicopter in the Yellow Sea public.The Australian government has been urged by UK Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton to make incident footage public in order to draw attention to China's unacceptable actions. Sir Knighton stated to the ABC that "it makes sense for us to show and release the imagery so we can debunk some of the misinformation that gets pushed out by Russia and China and prove what happened in practice."

Shadow defence minister James Paterson has supported the call to release the footage.

“If there are no operational barriers to (releasing the video), I agree, I think we should release it,” Mr Paterson told Sky News Australia on Thursday.Australia's risky helicopter interception in international waters, the source of the most recent military skirmish between the two nations, has angered China's Foreign Ministry.Earlier, China has been accused by Australia of acting dangerously. However, Australia was placed at fault by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, who claimed that the helicopter "deliberately flew within close range of China's airspace in a provocative move".

A spokesperson for the Chinese Defence Ministry, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, later declared that the actions were "in line with the international law" and "legitimate, reasonable, professional, and safe."Regarding the serious aerial incident, neither Defence Minister Richard Marles nor Foreign Minister Penny Wong have gotten in touch with their counterparts in Beijing.In reaction to China's attack on an Australian Navy helicopter, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has come under fire from Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie, who calls him "weak."Mr. Hastie said to Chris Kenny of Sky News that the prime minister was responding weakly."Over the past two years, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has shown us a pattern of aggressive behaviour towards the ADF, which includes this most recent incident."

China's actions have been described as "unprofessional and unacceptable" by Mr. Albanese earlier today. “The circumstances of this, I can't speak to the motivation of what's occurred here. I can say though, that it's unprofessional and unacceptable. That's our position very clearly.”

“ On the incident that we have reported on, we have made very strong representations at every level to China about this incident, which we regard as unprofessional and unacceptable. Australian Defence Force personnel were going about their job. Their job in international waters, but also in international skies, to support the United Nations in the sanctions that they have against the North Korean regime. That is part of Australia being good global citizens and Australian Defence Force personnel should not be at risk whilst they're doing that. So we have a very clear position there,” He said.

“We do have communications with China. That includes visits and the Chinese Premier will be here in June. We will make our position clear as well in discussions, as we do. One of the things that had broken down over a period of time was any dialogue. Dialogue is important. It's always, always important to have avenues of communication, and that's why we've used all of those avenues of communication to make our position on this incident very clear.”

Here is an excerpt from the latest interview with reporters by the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

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Peter Dutton, the leader of the opposition and former minister of defence in the Morrison government, insisted that Mr. Albanese bring up the issue with Jinping directly.

over the years, many national security and Defence matters. I always believe that wherever possible, there should be unity between the Government and the Opposition. But on this issue, I just think the Prime Minister has let down the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, and, therefore, the Australian public.

It comes off the back of what we saw as a very reckless act by the Chinese, only a few months ago, where the Navy divers came close to death through the sonar attacks that were conducted by the Chinese. Now, the Chinese came up with a story about, you know, it wasn't them. It must have been another ship in the region’ and all of this propaganda. They've done the same in relation to this.

The fact is that our helicopter was in international waters, which they now acknowledge. They've changed their story. It was a reckless act, and it was a dangerous act. The Prime Minister initially said, 'well, you know, we're just not to say anything'. Then his position was, 'well, we're going to raise this at every level of engagement', but, as you point out, and Andrew Clennell has noted, that hasn't happened. Then the Prime Minister changed his position in Perth yesterday to say he was going to raise it with President Xi, after we called for him to do that. Now his position is that he's going to raise it with President Xi, but not until later in the year.

The great risk, here, is that we end up with a catastrophic incident where there's a miscalculation by the Chinese jet pilot or the PLA-Navy. They're bumping into Japanese and Philippines vessels all the time in the South China and East China Sea. If there is a miscalculation and the helicopter goes into the water or those sailors or Navy divers end up with a crippling effect because of the actions of the Chinese, or somebody dies, then I just think there will be outrage – and rightly so.

I think that we have to stand up for the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, and the Prime Minister should be on the phone today to the Chinese President to say this is completely and utterly unacceptable and we won't tolerate it. You can't treat our soldiers and sailors and airmen and women like this.

On 4 May 2024, HMAS Hobart was in international waters in the Yellow Sea undertaking routine activities as part of Operation Argos, Australia’s contribution to the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea.

During these activities, a Royal Australian Navy MH-60R helicopter launched from HMAS Hobart was intercepted by a PLA-AF fighter aircraft.

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⚖️Paterson Backs Release of Military Confrontation Footage

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