‘Provocative’: Australian Helicopter Targeted by Flares From Beijing

An Australian Navy Seahawk helicopter was forced to take emergency action after a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) warplane dropped flares in its flight path.

The incident happened about 7.30 p.m. on Saturday (Australian time), as the Australian MH-60R Seahawk was flying over the Yellow Sea off the coast of South Korea.

The Australian aircraft was taking part in a U.N. mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed the attack by the J-10 Chinese Air Force plane, saying the Australian pilot was forced to take “evasive action” to avoid being hit.

“The consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant,” Mr. Marles said.

The sentiment was echoed by the Defence Department, who said the actions of the Beijing aircraft were “unsafe and unprofessional.”

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“The PLA-AF aircraft released flares along the flight path of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) helicopter,” the Defence Department said in a statement.

“This was an unsafe manoeuvre which posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel.

“While there were no injuries sustained by ADF personnel or damage caused to the MH-60R helicopter, the safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be our utmost priority.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton criticised Beijing’s actions as “provocative” and called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to personally make a call to Beijing.

“The prime minister needs to pick the phone up, frankly, and speak to President Xi, and express our deep concern, because at some stage there’s going to be a miscalculation, and an Australian Defence Force member is going to lose their life,” he told Channel 9.

The topic was put to Mr. Albanese on the Today Show, where he was asked if he had contacted the president directly.

Mr. Albanese told presenters “we’ve made the appropriate diplomatic representations, as you'd expect.”

He labelled Beijing’s actions as “unprofessional” and “unacceptable” and said the government had made the issue public in order to speak out “very clearly and unequivocally.”

At time of publication, Beijing had not made a public statement on the incident.