A couple of weeks ago, news broke that an Australian air force plane had apparently been verbally challenged by the Chinese navy as it flew over the disputed Spratly Islands late last month. The forthright response by the plane's crew, recorded by the BBC, suggested that Australia had, at last, decided to follow the United State's lead and confront China's assertive posture in the South China Sea.
The natural assumption was that the flight, by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, was a "Freedom of Navigation" operation, like the one undertaken by the American naval ship USS Lassen in late October, that was apparently designed to confront Beijing's growing assertiveness in some of the world's busiest and most vital waterways.
This interpretation fitted in with expectations - including in Australia itself - that Canberra would take some concrete action to back up its strong rhetorical support for the US' criticisms of China's military base construction on disputed features in the Spratlys. It is what one would expect from the country that has always been the US' closest regional ally, and the strongest supporter of US President Barack Obama's so-called "pivot to Asia".
But like so much else about this year's events in the South China Sea, this first impression was misleading.
Just as the USS Lassen's transit turned out to be a much more hesitant challenge to China's maritime claims than at first appeared, the details that eventually emerged about the Australian P3 flight made it clear that this was not the bold gesture of defiance towards Beijing that many had assumed. In fact, as Australian officials subsequently made clear, the aircraft was on a routine patrol over the South China Sea - part of a series conducted under what is called Operation Gateway, which dates back to the Cold War, and was originally aimed at detecting Soviet naval forces entering and leaving the Indian Ocean.
Gateway flights have continued since the end of the Cold War as part of Australia's longstanding strategic commitment to maritime security in South-east Asia, which is also reflected in its strong support for the Five Power Defence Arrangements covering Malaysia and Singapore.
It turns out that Gateway flights - including the one that took place late last month - often pass over or near the Spratlys, but they do not directly impinge on China's claims.
It also transpires that the Chinese navy often issues verbal warnings to the aircraft, just as it apparently did this time, and the Australian crew always respond just as the BBC reported.
Just routine business as usual, in other words.
This did not stop the Chinese Global Times newspaper from issuing dire threats, but the Chinese government chose to say very little. It turns out that Australia has decided not to translate its strong words into clear action against China after all.
This will no doubt surprise and disappoint many people in Washington, who are looking for clear signs that its Asian friends and allies are willing, and even eager, to back it all the way when it comes to defending American strategic leadership and maritime primacy in Asia.
US policymakers and analysts routinely assert that China's neighbours in and around Asia are all urging the US to stand up to China, and are 100 per cent committed to supporting it in doing so. And nowhere are their expectations higher than in relation to Australia.
The reality is rather different.
Of course, China's neighbours are worried about its growing power and how it will be used, and those worries can only be amplified by Beijing's assertive posture over maritime disputes like those in the South China Sea.
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