Australia is hosting Exercise Talisman Sabre, its largest-ever military drills, involving over 35,000 personnel from 19 nations. The three-week exercise, including live-fire drills using newly acquired HIMARS systems, is taking place in Australia and Papua New Guinea for the first time. Chinese surveillance ships are expected to monitor the exercise, a pattern observed since 2017. The drills coincide with Australian Prime Minister Albanese's visit to China, where he will meet with President Xi Jinping. Albanese stated he won't raise the Chinese surveillance issue during his visit.

Prepared by Rachel Morgan and reviewed by editorial team.