Australian Defence officials have been briefing Pacific nations about the formidable capabilities and weaponry of a Chinese naval flotilla in the region, which the ADF is continuing to monitor closely.
Last week Chief of the Defence Force David Johnston told a Senate committee that the Chinese naval task group was heading into the Pacific Ocean and was "approximately 500 nautical miles north of Palau" — but the government has not provided any public updates on its location since then.
There has been speculation that the vessels might sail towards Australia in a repeat of the partial circumnavigation the People's Liberation Army Navy carried out earlier this year.
But the four PLA-N ships in the group — a frigate, a cruiser, a refuelling vessel and a landing helicopter dock — do not appear to have travelled south-east towards the Australian mainland since last week.
Analysts say the Chinese vessels are instead likely to be travelling east into the further reaches of the Pacific.
Yesterday Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said Defence was keeping a close eye on the vessels but would not be drawn on their whereabouts.
"We have not established their final destination, so we're not in a position to provide commentary on where they will head," he told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing program.
"We're continuing to monitor them as we maintain excellent maritime awareness through every area of the Indo-Pacific that we're focused on."
Some observers say the task group may head deep into the south-west Pacific, where Australia is locked in what the foreign minister has called a "permanent contest" with China.
Defence briefs Pacific neighbours
Officials from the Defence department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have also been briefing countries in the region — including Pacific island nations — about the task group.
Briefing slides produced by the government's Defence Intelligence Organisation, that have been obtained by the ABC, lay out the capabilities of several Chinese naval vessels, including the Yushen class landing helicopter assault, the Renhai class cruiser and the Jiangkai class frigate.
The information pack also includes detailed, publicly available information about the military capabilities of the navy ships — for example, pointing out that the Renhai class cruiser can fire land attack cruise missiles, as well as anti-ship ballistic missiles which can travel 1000 kilometres, anti-ship cruise missiles, surface to air missiles, torpedoes and anti-submarine weapons.
Mr Conroy told the ABC that there was nothing unusual about the briefings, saying Australian officials had also pre-briefed Pacific nations about the Chinese navy task group which circumnavigated Australia in February and March.
"We regularly brief other members of the Pacific family about maritime activity in our region, that's a job we take seriously," he said.
"Our security is dependent on the security and prosperity of the Pacific Island region … so we provide those regular briefings [as well as] significant support for their own maritime security."
One diplomatic source told the ABC that Australia appeared intent on using the briefings and the slides to begin a more "sustained" conversation with Pacific nations about China's extraordinary military build-up and the way it was increasingly capable of projecting power into the region.
"The message we got is that Australia … wants to highlight the difference between what China says and what it does," they said.
Former naval officer Jennifer Parker, who is an expert associate at the ANU's national security college, said there was "little purpose" for the task group to loiter in the Philippine Sea, which meant the group was most likely heading further into the Pacific Ocean.
"A turn back toward the First Island Chain would almost certainly have been picked up and shared online, because large Chinese task groups, especially those with amphibious ships, are routinely observed and reported in that region," she said.
"There has been no such reporting."
Ms Parker said the naval task group was also "unlikely" to have entered the Coral Sea over the last week because the Australian Government would have alerted the public by now.
Given the task group was travelling at about 13 knots when it was detected, the group could have travelled roughly 5,000km since December 1, which Ms Parker said meant it "could now be located somewhere between the Marshall Islands, Nauru, or the region east of the Solomons, staying north of PNG".
She said the most "plausible" explanation for its presence was to "demonstrate the PLA Navy's ability to deploy an amphibious task group at distance, sustained by underway replenishment".
"This is consistent with China's broader effort to signal its growing ability to operate further into the Pacific with more complex, expeditionary naval formations," she said.
