Jiang Bin Photo: China's Ministry of National Defense

China’s Ministry of National Defense on Friday expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the Australian side’s distorting remarks regarding the provocative actions of Australian naval forces in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, urging the Australian side to earnestly respect China’s sovereignty and security concerns, immediately stop spreading disinformation.

Responding to a media query on claim from the Australian Department of Defence that on Wednesday, when Australia was undertaking a routine patrol in the Yellow Sea as part of the international effort to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions, a Chinese military aircraft conducted an unsafe approach to the Australian shipborne aircraft, Jiang Bin, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, firmly rejected the claim.

Jiang said that the Australian side's relevant remarks are nothing but a complete distortion of the facts and a reversal of right and wrong, to which China expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition.

Jiang added that recently, the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba, under the pretext of enforcing UN Security Council resolutions, has repeatedly deployed its shipborne helicopters to conduct close-in reconnaissance against China and engage in persistent provocations in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, seriously endangering China's national security.

"In response to the Australian side's infringing and harassing actions, the Chinese military promptly took measures to deliver a resolute and forceful response. The relevant operations were justified, reasonable, professional, and standardized, and fully in line with international law and international practice," Jiang stressed. 

Jiang emphasized that UN Security Council resolutions have never authorized any country to deploy military forces or conduct surveillance activities in the sea and airspace under another country's jurisdiction under the guise of monitoring violations of those resolutions. And China will never tolerate, and will resolutely counter, any actions that harm China's national sovereignty and security in the name of enforcing resolutions. 

Jiang said we urged the Australian side to earnestly respect China's sovereignty and security concerns, immediately stop spreading disinformation, strictly restrain the actions of its naval and air forces, refrain from any reckless provocative behavior, and avoid doing anything that undermines regional peace and stability.