It is good to see Sco Mo bozo, our Covid PM, jumping up and down, and around, about a commo China warship pointing a laser at a Royal Australian military aircraft. As he said, if the roles were reversed, commo China would be pretty mad, maybe launching a missile. Yet if the modern battle field is going to have lasers, well, one needs bigger lasers to point back, disintegration ray guns. And force fields too to repel lasers. How about light sabres to, which ever boy loves? When the plane is shot down, crew could fly by jet packs to the commo vessel and work it over with light sabres as in Star Wars. It is a video game isn’t it?
“Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has criticized Beijing for “an act of intimidation” after a Chinese warship pointed a laser at a Royal Australian military aircraft.
The attack took place on Feb. 17 as an Australian P-8A Poseidon aircraft was monitoring a Chinese Navy vessel sailing through the Arafura Sea—in international waters but inside Australia’s exclusive economic zone.
The Chinese warship reportedly aimed a military-grade laser at the Australian aircraft, an action the Australian Defence Force (ADF) said could have put the lives of ADF personnel in danger.
The incident follows a week of domestic political dispute about national security, as the regime in Beijing escalates its plans to become the dominant force in the Indo-Pacific region.
‘Unprovoked, Unwarranted’
Morrison on Feb. 20 described last week’s action as a “reckless and irresponsible act” by China.
“I can see it in no other way than an act of intimidation, one that was unprovoked, unwarranted,” Morrison told reporters in Melbourne. “Australia will never accept such acts of intimidation.”
He said the act is being raised with China’s Communist Party leaders through defense and diplomatic channels, and that Beijing must provide an explanation “as to why a military vessel in Australia’s exclusive economic zone would undertake such a dangerous act.”
“I have no doubt that if it had been an Australian vessel, British vessel, American vessel, French vessel, Japanese vessel, or German for that matter, that was going through similar waters in the South China Sea, and it was done to a Chinese surveillance aircraft, then people could guess what the reaction to that would have been.”
The laser incident highlights the increasing tension between Beijing and democratic nations that stand for freedom. As a leading voice in safeguarding the liberal-democratic world order, Australia’s China policy is to be a critical issue in the impending federal election. Morrison has stressed that the Coalition has increased its defense funding in the face of increasing aggression in the Pacific by Beijing, and “did not abandon our borders as Labor did.”
“An appeasement path is not something that my government will ever go down,” he said.
“You’ve got to take a strong stance on these issues. It’s not just about what you say; it’s about what you do, and what our government has been doing is protecting Australia’s national interest and protecting us from such threats and intimidation.”