China’s use of advanced Australian designs for a new generation of stealth missile boats should prompt tighter controls over commercial sales to Beijing, a top Australian security analyst said on Friday.
Working with a Chinese joint venture partner, Australian marine design company AMD has sold catamaran designs to China’s fast-expanding navy for the Type 022 missile attack boat, first introduced in 2004.
They would play a very big part in any military conflict in Taiwan and would pose a potent threat in coastal waters, Sam Roggeveen, formerly a senior analyst with Australia’s top intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, told Reuters.
We need to have a think about what is and is not in our national interest. The defence department has admitted they don’t have the legislative tools to do anything about this, he said.
The Chinese ships use a unique wave-piercing catamaran hull design and are fitted with two YJ-83 anti-ship missile launchers, allied with a structure designed to avoid radar detection.
Roggeveen, now with the Lowy Institute security think tank, said the Type 022 missile boats were integral to a massive military build-up by Beijing, which the United States has expressed concern about.
It’s all about trying to make it very difficult for the US navy to operate in coastal waters (around Taiwan), he said.
Europe recently loosened a ban on arms sales to China, which was imposed alongside the United States after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Australian companies export about A$600 million a year worth of military products. AMD has also sold catamaran propulsion designs to Beijing.
China is believed to have built as many as 40 Type 022 missile boats to replace the ageing Huangfeng class missile boat. The wave-piercing design offers high-speed and stability. The US navy is testing similar designs.
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