SpaceWar.com reports: “Australia was Thursday monitoring the ‘unusual’ presence of three Chinese warships sailing off its eastern coast, the defence minister said.

Three Chinese navy vessels — a frigate, a cruiser and a supply tanker — were spotted last week in waters off mainland Australia.

They have since charted a course taking them down Australia’s eastern coast.

‘We are keeping a close watch on them, and we will make sure we are watching every move,’ Defence Minister Richard Marles told Sky News.

‘It’s not unprecedented. But it is an unusual event.’

Marles stressed the vessels were ‘not a threat’ and that they were ‘engaging in accordance with international law’.

Canberra rebuked Beijing last week for ‘unsafe’ military conduct, accusing a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares near an Australian air force plane patrolling the South China Sea…”