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China’s navy comes to the rescue amid Australia’s huge failure over Tonga aid
Australia has been completely embarrassed in what should have been a mercy mission. Now China has made its move.Jamie Seidel
February 1, 2022 - 6:02PM
Australia’s largest warship has been left powerless at a Tonga dock as China’s navy races to deliver disaster relief supplies – and win the hearts and minds of our Pacific neighbours.
An international effort is in full swing after a January 14 volcanic eruption and deadly tsunami swamped the Tongan archipelago. The Australian helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship HMAS Adelaide was among the first responders when it arrived last week, carrying more than 250 pallets of emergency humanitarian stores.
The 27,000-tonne warship arrived last Wednesday.
It’s spent the past four days largely powerless after a failure of its electrical generation system.
Amid slick Department of Defence videos and glowing press releases, the failure comes as a particularly embarrassing incident.
“Warships cost a lot of money because, in battle, they’re not supposed to have a single point of failure,” independent Senator for South Australia and former navy submariner Rex Patrick tweeted. “Redundancy is built-in bow-to-stern and port-to-starboard. HMAS Adelaide’s ‘total power failure’ is therefore of considerable concern.”
Such an outage in the heat of battle would be disastrous. As would any delay in affecting repairs or activating reserve systems.
As it is, it’s an embarrassing setback in the battle for the region’s hearts and minds.
Chinese state-controlled media is proclaiming a mission by one of its own amphibious assault ships, the PLAN Wuzhishan, along with a support ship to deliver desperately needed relief supplies.
The two Chinese naval vessels departed South China’s port city of Guangzhou on Monday.
“The navy is fully prepared for all scenarios and the task demonstrated China’s commitment and capacity,” states the Beijing-controlled Global Times.
International alms race
“On the eve of the Chinese New Year, the PLA’s gesture of the mission to Tonga demonstrated China’s responsibility and capacity,” the Global Times quoted military analyst Song Zhongping as saying.
“When other countries are fighting disaster, we must offer our help to face the disaster together, which is the best explanation of a community with a shared future for mankind.”
Canberra has been concerned at Beijing’s growing influence in the South Pacific in recent years. Fears of it establishing a regional military outpost have been raised in relation to proposed infrastructure projects ranging from Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands to Fiji and Kiribati.
China is just one of a handful of regional powers that possess large amphibious assault ships.
These are uniquely suited to disaster relief efforts.
Their vehicle-carrying landing craft and heavy-lift helicopter capacity means they don’t need docks. Instead, they’re built to deliver stores and equipment while sitting offshore. They also accommodate large numbers of troops and emergency services personnel and are usually fitted with comprehensive medical facilities.
The PLAN Type 071 Amphibious Transport Dock Wuzhishan during recent exercises. Picture: Chinese Ministry of Defence.
Despite four days of effort, HMAS Adelaide’s electrical fault is yet fully rectified.
But the Department of Defence insists its helicopters and landing craft can still respond to specific calls for assistance from Tonga’s government.
China’s relief effort is centred upon the 20,000-tonne Type 071 amphibious dock landing ship PLAN Wuzhishan. It has been pictured leaving port with shipping containers stacked on its helicopter flight deck.
Enabling its 9200km voyage is the Type 901 supply ship PLAN Chaganhu. It is designed to replenish other ships at sea with fuel and various mixed stores.
Chinese state media says the two ships are carrying 1400 tons of equipment, including mobile homes, tractors, generators and medical equipment.
PLAN Wuzhishan departs dock with a cargo of relief supplies for Tonga on Monday. Pictures: People’s Daily China
The mission is a follow-up to a January 28 airlift. Two large PLA Y-20 transport aircraft carried tents, beds, water purifiers and food into the capital of Tonga.
“The PLA Navy must be prepared for all scenarios to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment,” says Song. The main challenge for the two ships, he said, was “whether there will be another underwater volcano eruption or a tsunami caused by a seaquake”.
Regional power failure
The Department of Defence has issued a brief statement addressing HMAS Adelaide’s power failure.
“The power outage has not affected Australia’s ability to support requests from the Government of Tonga to assist their recovery efforts,” it reads.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s office denies social media rumours that HMAS Adelaide is being towed to Fiji. It states refrigeration, airconditioning, and sanitation systems have been restored to operation.
The ship’s 630 crew and other embarked ADF personnel are reportedly comfortable.
Meanwhile, civilian technicians are being flown from Australia to Tonga to “conduct an assessment of the affected systems”.
It’s not the first time one of Australia’s three main emergency response vessels has suffered a severe electrical failure.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s office denies social media rumours that HMAS Adelaide is being towed to Fiji.
The amphibious landing ship HMAS Choules needed $10 million and 10 months in repairs after one of its two main propulsion power distribution transformers blew in 2012. The 16,000-tonne warship was forced to limp back to port on half power.
HMAS Adelaide’s relief mission has not been a lucky one, despite being in a position to respond to the volcano and subsequent tsunami within days.
The assault ship recorded 23 positive Covid-19 cases after putting to sea. The Department of Defence says all were asymptomatic or mild.
But the presence of the pandemic on-board curtailed any contact between its personnel and Tongan relief authorities. Therefore, its relief supplies were unloaded onto Vanu Wharf in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, and left for local distribution.
The ship had been ordered to take up station offshore and make its helicopters and landing craft available to the Tongan government. Such operations are believed to be continuing.
HMAS Adelaide is a high-profile part of the international relief effort. New Zealand’s HMNZS Aotearoa was among the first on the scene and is currently supporting other vessels as they arrive. The assembled fleet includes the US Navy destroyer USS Sampson, New Zealand’s HMNZS Wellington and the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey.
Chinese commercial ships diverted from Fiji delivered aid on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force landing ship JS Osumi, the French patrol vessels FNS Arago and FNS La Glorieuse and the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Stratton are also en route.
Australia and New Zealand have been airlifting urgent supplies and conducting aerial damage assessments of the remote islands. China, France and Japan have also sent cargo aircraft to Tonga’s capital.
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