Chinese warships near Australia’s future home of nuclear-powered AUKUS submarines

A flotilla of Chinese warships is expected to track past Australia’s future home of nuclear-powered AUKUS submarines within days as they continue their circumnavigation of the continent.

The three heavily armed ships — a frigate, a missile cruiser and a replenishment vessel — were just 170 nautical miles (314 km) south, south-west of Perth on Tuesday.

State Premier Roger Cook on Tuesday noted WA was in a “geopolitically very sensitive area” when asked if the AUKUS agreement had made it a target for military activity but reiterated he was confident Federal authorities were monitoring the situation.

“It continues to be modern monitored by Defence in relation to its progress and its activities,” Mr Cook said on Tuesday.

“We will continue to play an important role in the AUKUS partnership, including the development of the defence construction precinct in Henderson — the biggest Defence project in the nation’s history.”

The Royal Australian Navy’s largest naval base, HMAS Stirling, is located on Garden Island, just off the coast of Rockingham – housing much of Australia’s fleet submarines and frigates as a key defence hub.

The ships have twice conducted live fire exercises in the past week and prompted a political row between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Peter Dutton.

Defence only learnt about the live-fire exercises 30 minutes after they began through a Virgin Australia pilot who had to divert their plane upon hearing a broadcast from the Chinese ships.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said two navy assets, HMAS Warramunga and HMAS Stuart, were trailing the ships on their journey around the southwest of WA.

Assuming they maintain a similar speed and continue on their current trajectory, it’s estimated the trio could reach their closest point to Perth between Wednesday and Thursday.

“We’ve also using P-8s to overfly the task group. We have been following that mission very closely, as we’ve said repeatedly, and we continue to do so,” Mr Marles told ABC.

The P-8 warplane, known as a “sub-hunter”, is designed for maritime intelligence and the surveillance of submarines, among other missions. It comes amid speculation a submarine was part of the Chinese group as well.

Mr Marles said the demonstration showed China was “being more assertive”.

“Obviously, we want to watch very carefully to make sure they’re complying with international law, which, to be fair, they are,” he said.

“But we’re also watching because we want to understand exactly what this mission is doing, the kind of exercises they’re undertaking, what their configurations are actually getting into the detail of this.

“I’m not going to speculate specifically in terms of what they have been trying to achieve with this mission, other than to say we have been watching it very closely and we will know that answer, and we will analyse it properly and properly understand exactly what they were trying to do.”

It comes as Mr Cook earlier this week said there needed to be a greater navy and aerial presence across the WA coast.

“We’ve always said that we wanted more grey ships on the west coast, particularly the North West,” he said.

“That’s been a comment that I and my predecessors have made time and again. Western Australia is home to some of our most important and strategic industries.

“The defence strategic review exposed the need a few years ago. That’s why the Federal Government has been moving significantly to move our defence capability away from infantry to naval and air force.”

Mr Marles said it was a “very disconcerting set of circumstances” for commercial airlines when flights had to be diverted between Australian and New Zealand.

The Australian government said it had been in close consultation and cooperation with New Zealand as they traverse the international waters around Australia.

Mr Albanese has discussed Australian concerns with the Chinese officials both in Canberra and Beijing.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong also raised the situation with her Chinese counterpart when she was at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting recently in South Africa last week.