Don't They Know Who's the Colonial Power Around Here?

International waters are awash with subtle and treacherous doings, as the Heathen Chinee have most provocatively and non-genocidally carried out a live-fire exercise while abiding by international law. So insidious was the naval task force's conduct that several airlines were able to change their flight plans because the junks and sampans gave, of all things, sufficient warning via a civilian radio channel. This low cunning outraged the Australian shadow defence spokesbeing, the trigger-fingerishly surnamed Andrew Hastie, who suggested that the Heathen Chinee were engaged in "gunboat diplomacy" and thereby usurping the prerogatives of the master race. For its own part, the Australian defence department claims that it was not formally notified, although by the grace of Providence some of its personnel apparently happened to be listening to the civilian channel in question at just the right time.