A tangle with Australia

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An Australian Navy Seahawk helicopter(Bild: APA/AFP/AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE/ABIS CHRIS BEERENS)

According to the Australian government, a Chinese fighter jet has fired flares near an Australian military helicopter in the South China Sea. The incident with the so-called flares occurred on Saturday evening over international waters, said Defense Minister Richard Marles on Monday and spoke of an "unsafe and unprofessional" action by the Chinese.

The fighter jet fired the flares about 300 meters in front of the Seahawk helicopter from a slightly elevated position, Marles told 9News. The Australian pilots, who were on a routine patrol, would have had to take evasive action to avoid being hit. Contact with the flares could have been life-threatening for the crew. The government had officially communicated its concern about the incident to Beijing. "This incident was completely unacceptable," emphasized Marles.

Helicopter on UN mission
The military helicopter had taken off from the Australian destroyer HMAS Hobart, which is taking part in Operation Argos, a United Nations mission in the South China Sea. This is intended to prevent North Korea from smuggling sanctioned goods across the sea.

China claims practically the entire South China Sea for itself. It is considered a strategically important trade and shipping route. There are repeated incidents with other countries. Two years ago, Australia's government accused China of harassing an Australian P-8 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea with a dangerous flight maneuver.