Australia says Chinese spy ship sighted close to west coast

Australian defence minister Peter Dutton (AP)

Australia’s defence minister has said a Chinese warship with spying capabilities had been tracked along the nation’s western coastline in what amounted to an “aggressive act”.

Peter Dutton said the ship was sighted on Friday morning heading north about 250 nautical miles from Broome in Western Australia, and had been hugging the coastline for the past week.