Australia Monitoring Another Chinese ‘Spy Ship’ Off Its Southern Coast

The ship’s activities come after a flotilla of warships circumnavigated Australia last month.

China's most advanced deep-sea research vessel, Dayang Yihao is berth at Ocean terminal in Hong Kong on Aug. 10, 2007. Dayang Yihao, the only open-ocean going vessel designated and equipped for deep-sea research in China. Samantha Sin/AFP via Getty Images

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says authorities are “monitoring” a Chinese research vessel spotted off the coast of southern Australia.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) vessel is currently circumnavigating Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) following a joint survey exercise with New Zealand.

Albanese sought to downplay the presence of the Tan Suo Yi Hao ship during a press conference on March 31, but admitted he “would prefer that it wasn’t there.”

“It’s been in New Zealand on a joint research operation. And this isn’t the first time that a similar vessel has been around the Australian coast. It occurred in 2020 for example, just to give one example. Australia as you'd expect is monitoring this,” he said.

The ship is suspected to be collecting intelligence while also conducting scientific research at the same time, in other words, it is a dual-purpose vessel.

Albanese said for obvious reasons he would not be broadcasting everything that Australia is doing it, but added, “we’re keeping an eye on this as we do.”

“I would prefer that it wasn’t there. But we live in circumstances where, just as Australia has vessels in the South China Sea and vessels in the Taiwan Strait and a range of areas, this vessel is there,” he said.

“What our task is to do is to make sure that we represent Australia’s national interests. We do that each and every day. And I have every confidence in our defence force and our security agencies to do just that.”

The Epoch Times has contacted the Australian Defence Department for comment.

Pattern of CCP Activity Around the Australian Coast

The latest incident follows a pattern of CCP naval activity around Australia in recent months.

In early 2025, a Chinese naval task group consisting of three warships conducted an unprecedented circumnavigation of the continent.

The flotilla entered Australia’s EEZ and reached within 150 to 200 nautical miles of major cities Sydney and Perth.

As part of the deployment, the CCP allegedly conducted multiple surprise live-fire drills near Australia, Taiwan, and New Zealand without appropriate notification.

The incident led to 49 commercial flights between Australia and New Zealand to be diverted, while planes flew near the exercises for half an hour before pilots were initially alerted.

Following the incident, Prime Minister Albanese said the CCP had complied with international law.

“Defence confirmed that China did comply with international law, and that’s important,” Albanese said on Feb. 22.

That said,  Albanese did admit that the CCP’s notification to Australia could have been better.

“I think they could have given notice, but given Australia has a presence from time to time in the South China Sea, its location is hinted at there by the title of the sea, that we engage in activities that are lawful,” Albanese told reporters on Feb. 22.

“Notification did occur of this event, what we have done is to make representation, saying that we think best practice would be to give more notice, and we’ve done that through diplomatic channels, as is appropriate.”

Abbott Calls It ‘Intimidation’

In response, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the exercises as an “act of intimidation.”

Abbott said the communist regime was undoubtedly attempting to show the region who the “new big dog on the block is.”

“Let’s make no bones about it, it was an exercise in intimidation. The fact that there were not one but two live-fire exercises, the fact that there was no formal notification to government—that was a sign that China intends to do what the hell it likes, regardless of any view that we have,” the former prime minister told the Institute of Public Affairs.

Abbott said at the time the Albanese government can “talk about the normalisation of relations” but “the new normal is that China will attempt to bully us into a form of submission.”

However, the most troubling aspect of the incident for officials was that Australian authorities were not aware of the exercises until they were notified by commercial pilots.

“And when we did become aware, it seemed that we were relying on New Zealand to do the naval shadowing,” Abbott said.

Abbott acknowledged that Albanese has a difficult job and a “lot on his plate,” but said his suggesting it was just a normal rite of passage rather than a display of naked strength was a “total misreading of the situation.”