It’s unprecedented for Dutton to label a Chinese spy ship sailing outside Australia’s territory ‘an aggressive act’

Peter Dutton said it was ‘very strange’ and ‘unprecedented’ that a Chinese warship had sailed so far south off the West Australian coast. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, has called the presence of a Chinese spy ship off the coast of Western Australia “an aggressive act” but his department was far more sober in its assessment and international law experts have poured cold water on the claim.

It is not the first time such Chinese vessels have been in Australia’s exclusive economic zone. So, given we are a week out from an election and the Coalition wants the narrative refocused through a “we live in uncertain times” lens, let’s put the politics aside and step through the facts.