Largest-ever military exercise in Australia is underway
MELBOURNE: The largest-ever war fighting drills in Australia, Exercise Talisman Sabre, is underway and expected to attract the attention of Chinese spy ships.
Talisman Sabre began in 2005 as a biennial joint exercise between the United States and Australia.
This year, more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations, including Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom, will take part over three weeks, Australia's defense department said Sunday.
Malaysia and Vietnam are also attending as observers.
The exercise will also take part in Papua New Guinea, Australia's nearest neighbour.
It is the first time Talisman Sabre activities have been held outside Australia.
Chinese surveillance ships have monitored naval exercises off the Australian coast during the last four Talisman Sabre exercises and were expected to surveil the current exercise, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said.
"The Chinese military have observed these exercises since 2017. It'd be very unusual for them not to observe it," Conroy told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Đây có thể là thời điểm tốt nhất để giao dịch vàng trong 5 năm qua
IC Markets
Tìm hiểu thêm
Undo
"We'll adjust accordingly. We'll obviously observe their activities and monitor their presence around Australia, but we'll also adjust how we conduct those exercises," Conroy added.
Conroy said the Chinese were not yet shadowing ships as of Sunday.
The exercise officially started on Sunday with a ceremony in Sydney attended by Deputy Commanding General of US Army Pacific Lt Gen J B Vowell and Australia's Chief of Joint Operations Vice-Adm Justin Jones.
The exercise, showcasing Australia's defence alliance with the United States, started a day after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began a six-day visit to China.
Albanese is expected to hold his fourth face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday.
The Australian leader has been criticised at home for failing to secure a face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
7 minutes ago
- Time of India
No passports, no study abroad: China limits public employees' travel
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads When Tina Liu was hired to teach literature in a public elementary school in southern China, her contract included the usual warnings about absenteeism and job came another line: Traveling abroad without the school's permission could get her rule was reinforced in a staff group chat. "According to regulations from higher-ups, teachers need to strengthen their disciplinary awareness," the message said. "We will currently not permit any overseas vacations."Across China, similar warnings are spreading as authorities tighten control over state employees' contacts with foreigners. Some kindergarten teachers, doctors and even government contractors and employees of state-owned enterprises have been ordered to hand in their passports. Some cities make retirees wait two years to reclaim their many cities, travel overseas by public employees, even for personal reasons, requires approval. Business trips abroad for "ordinary research, exchange and study" have been banned. And in most provinces, those who have studied abroad are now disqualified from certain public cite various reasons, including protecting national security, fighting corruption and cutting costs. But the scope of the restrictions has expanded rapidly, sweeping up employees who say they have no access to sensitive information or government funds. The New York Times spoke to seven public employees, including an elementary school music teacher, a nurse and a literature professor, who confirmed the rules are part of a push by the central authorities to impose greater so-called political discipline and ideological loyalty on government workers. Two of the people the Times spoke to said they were also ordered to disclose their personal social media accounts to their employers. Another person said she had to notify her employer if she left the city where she worked. Some local governments have banned civil servants from eating out in groups of more than three, measures that came after several reports of excessive drinking at official authorities are especially vigilant about overseas contact. The Chinese government has long been wary of the threat of espionage and what it sees as hostile foreign forces seeking to sow discontent. In July, People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece, published an article declaring that people-to-people diplomacy "exists because of the party" and should be led by the result is that even as Beijing advertises itself as eager to attract foreign businesses and tourists, it is preventing many of its own people from leaving."On the one hand, you want foreigners to come to China. You advertise Chinese culture and hope they'll boost the economy," said Liu, who is in her 20s. "But on the other hand, why are you trapping us here, rather than letting us see more of the world?"Travel restrictions for some state employees are not new. Since 2003, high-ranking officials or those handling state secrets must report foreign travel in advance. Their names are given to border officials to prevent unauthorized under Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader in decades, the controls have extended to far lower-level officials at six fishing villages near the city of Zhoushan, in coastal Zhejiang province, were told to surrender their documents, a local government notice shows. In a city in Jiangxi province, a public health agency also told employees to report any overseas trips they'd taken since 2018.A music teacher at an elementary school in central Hebei province said that she had applied to go to Malaysia this summer because her sister would be studying abroad there. Her school principal refused the request, said the teacher, who gave only her surname, Wang, for fear of retaliation.A nurse at a hospital in Zhejiang said she would need four layers of approvals to travel abroad. The nurse, who also asked to be identified only by her surname, Zhu, for fear of retaliation, said she had not applied, even though she had long dreamed of visiting Vietnam. The restrictions, she said, seemed to show a fear that even ordinary workers might flee with sensitive information or illicit funds -- an idea she scoffed at."If there are any secrets, would people like us know about them?" she said. "What money do we have to abscond with?"Those who are allowed to travel abroad are sometimes required to pledge not to endanger national security or speak ill of China while Inner Mongolia University of Technology told employees not to accept any media interviews or to meet with any "outside parties" while abroad, without authorization. Encounters with "anti-China forces" should be reported to Chinese embassies, the university to hand in one's passport within a week of returning could lead to a five-year travel restrictions are also creeping into hiring. For new graduates hoping to join China's civil service, some of the most coveted positions are in the program known as "xuandiaosheng," which loosely translates as "selected students." Those students, who are recruited from top universities, are put on a fast track to leadership province determines which schools it will recruit from, and many, including Guangdong in the south, used to include overseas universities. This year, Guangdong listed only Chinese universities; so did five other regions in the past year. Only Shanghai now explicitly accepts graduates of foreign universities for the elite province, in the northeast, went even further. Anyone who had lived overseas for more than six months, and whose "experience and political performance abroad" were hard to investigate, was deemed ineligible this departments in major cities have imposed similar rules. In Shanghai, even having a spouse or close relative who has moved abroad can disqualify a Liu, a professor at City University of Hong Kong who studies China's civil service, said that many of the restrictions most likely did not stem from a clear central mandate. But as the central government's scrutiny of midlevel officials has grown, those midlevel officials were probably trying to avoid any possible sources of trouble."Because of U.S.-China relations, because of the competition, I think it's fair to say that Chinese society in general has become more sensitive to foreign countries," Liu said. For policymakers, that makes "everything related to foreign countries risky," he Chinese government still wants to broadcast an image of openness, and would prefer to keep its inward turn more quiet, said Wu Qiang, an independent political analyst in Beijing. Although some local governments have published their passport regulations online, many interviewees said they were told only of the restrictions appears to be uneven. Zhu said nurses at other hospitals in her city still had their passports, for government employees are not the only ones being scrutinized for overseas ties. China's state security agency has repeatedly warned ordinary citizens about the dangers of traveling overseas, or to look out for foreigners who might be Mingzhu, chair of Gree Electric, a major Chinese appliance manufacturer, said this year that she would avoid hiring people who returned from overseas, because they might be declaration drew widespread criticism from social media users who said it promoted discrimination and would harm China's global competitiveness. Even People's Daily ran an opinion piece defending overseas while ordinary Chinese might complain about restrictions on their freedoms, government employees are unlikely to put up much resistance, said Liu, in Hong the government workers the Times spoke to all said they would not quit over having their passports the nurse in Zhejiang, said her stable salary of about $27,000 a year -- much more than the average in her city -- was worth the "emotional value" she was being denied. And she knew many other workers around her were in the same situation."If everyone dies, it's OK, you know?" she said. "As long as I'm not the only one."
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
CK Hutchison's Panama Port subsidiary seeks legal protection amid contract dispute
Advt Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. Get updates on your preferred social platform Follow us for the latest news, insider access to events and more. A subsidiary of a Hong Kong conglomerate entangled in US-China tensions appealed on Friday for legal protection for businesses in Panama after the company's contract over its Panama Canal port assets has been faced with lawsuits in the Central American for the rule of law is essential to assure businesses that Panama is a safe place to invest in, Panama Ports Company , under Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings , said in a Comptroller General filed two lawsuits on Wednesday, seeking to declare unconstitutional a contract that granted the operation of ports at both ends of the canal to the Hong Kong subsidiary, and to nullify its renewal four years ago, saying it was "abusive" of Panama's turn, Panama Ports Company said its operations have had a positive impact, from building world-class ports to creating more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributing billions of balboas - Panama's currency - to the country's said it wants to work with the government in Panama for a better future."Regarding the ongoing legal actions, we firmly believe that respect for legal protection and the rule of law are essential in order to provide businesses and investors with the certainty that Panama is a safe country to invest in," it company operates the ports of Balboa, in the Pacific, and Cristobal, in the Atlantic, under a concession contract approved in 1997 and renewed in 2021 for 25 more years. CK Hutchison is controlled by the family of Li Ka-shing , the southern Chinese city's richest comptroller authority in April said that an audit of Panama Ports Company found irregularities in the renewal of the concession. But the company denied allegations that it had failed to pay about $1.2 billion to the Central American President Jose Raul Mulino said during his weekly news conference on Thursday that he fully supported the comptroller's case and would await the court's verdict."We have all seen what that contract has costed the Panamanian nation over time," Mulino said without elaborating. He alluded to some sort of public-private partnership for the ports, saying there was a lot of interest from private companies, but that it was in the early stages and provided no Hutchison Holdings' initial plan, announced in March, to sell its port assets in dozens of countries to a group that includes the US investment firm BlackRock Inc., also got caught up in tensions between Beijing and President Donald Trump, who has alleged that China interferes with the canal, initially welcomed that plan. However, it apparently angered Beijing and drew a review by Chinese anti-monopoly months of uncertainty, Hutchison said on Monday that it may seek a Chinese investor to join a consortium of buyers, which also includes BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the Mediterranean Shipping initial deal, valued at nearly $23 billion, including $5 billion in debt, would have given the consortium control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including the two at the Panama Ports Company said Friday it would communicate with the Panamanian government "at the appropriate time," affirming that it believes engaging with the government "is vital to discuss the way forward for" the government maintains it has full control over the canal and that the operation of the ports by Hutchison does not mean Chinese control of it.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
China and Russia start joint drills in Sea of Japan
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel China and Russia began joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan on Sunday as they seek to reinforce their partnership and counterbalance what they see as a US-led global order Alongside economic and political ties, Moscow and Beijing have strengthened their military cooperation in recent years, and their relations have deepened since Russia invaded Ukraine in February " Joint Sea-2025 " exercises kicked off in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok and would last for three days, China's defence ministry said in a statement on two sides will hold "submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat".Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, are participating in the exercises alongside Russian ships, the ministry the drills, the two countries will conduct naval patrols in "relevant waters of the Pacific".China and Russia have carried out annual drills for several years, with the "Joint Sea" exercises beginning in year's drills were held along China's southern Chinese defence ministry said Friday that this year's exercises were aimed at "further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership" of the two has never denounced Russia's more than three-year war nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine's allies, including the United States, believe that Beijing has provided support to insists it is a neutral party, regularly calling for an end to the fighting while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.
