A sophisticated drone has been discovered flying into Papua New Guinea's air space around the same time a Chinese naval vessel navigated the nation's border with Australia.
Villagers spotted the drone flying about five kilometres inland from the coastal settlement of Mabaduan in an area only a few kilometres from Saibai Island in the Torres Straits.
It reportedly occurred around the time of the Chinese navy's Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang passed before the vessel joined two other Chinese warships off the east coast of Australia.
The three vessels later conducted well-publicised live fire drills in the Tasman Sea, forcing commercial airlines to divert flights and stoking a furious political debate in Canberra.
It was later discovered a Virgin Airlines pilot first spotted the warships firing and not the Australian Defence Force.
A local Papua New Guinean ranger said he originally thought he was looking at a peculiarly small plane.
"It was like a stingray shape when it was going in the sky, one light in front, and two lights at the back," ranger Gigi Koidawane said.
Papua New Guinean Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko says he was not notified about any drones above the nation's sovereign territory.
Media reports suggest that the Australian Defence Force did not launch any drones in the Torres Strait region around that time.
The Torres Strait is a narrow sea passage that is shallow in some parts, making it difficult for large ships to navigate.
Tkatchenko did not name China, but said a foreign drone would be of great concern had a foreign power's military entered the PNG's air space without notifying government authorities.
"It doesn't matter which country it is; if they are entering into our sovereign territory, you would expect the courtesy of them telling us what they are doing," Tkatchenko said in a press conference.
The foreign minister also denied further reports from Australia that China, in fact, given PNG government officials an advance warning of the warships' passage "weeks" in advance of the fire drills.
Papua New Guinea held talks with Chinese communist officials last year on a security and policing deal and have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the potential of unprecedented free trade deals.
The Australian government is concerned that Beijing is once again targeting Pacific Island nations' police and security forces to spread its influence.
China's ambassador to PNG told Tkatchenko that the Chinese navy vessels were planning to sail into nation's waters on the same day that Australia officials briefed the minister on the same topic, which was around two days before the Australian Defence Force made a statement alerting the public to their presence in the Tasman Sea.
"(Australia) alerted us to the fact as well, and that was roughly the same time," Tkatchenko said.
"If I flew a plane into Australia without the proper approvals or processes, I would be hunted down and detained.
"The unfortunate thing is (in PNG) we don't have the updated capabilities in infrastructure and development to apprehend such vessels or aircraft
"So we are handicapped in that regard."
Dr Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defence strategy and capabilities at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the ABC it was difficult to categorically identify drones from the video footage.
"My guess is this was a reconnaissance drone that was launched from one of those naval vessels to gather intelligence on activities around the Chinese Task Force," he said.
Dr Davis added drones would help China better understand the environment for a war-type situation to operate more effectively in that part of the ocean.
"The Chinese would want to have as much information as possible on activities at sea in terms of other ships in the area and basically be able to ensure that they could transit the strait safely," he said.
"(But) I don't think we should be overly concerned.
"We should recognise that the Chinese have invested in these sorts of capabilities, like most other navies do, and we'll probably will see this sort of thing happening again."
