**ISTANBUL**
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country is monitoring a Chinese research vessel off the coast of Victoria, local media reported on Monday.
“I would prefer that it (ship) wasn't there. But we live in circumstances where, just as Australia has vessels in the South China Sea and vessels in the Taiwan Strait and a range of areas, this vessel is there,” Albanese told reporters, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“What our task is to do is to make sure that we represent Australia's national interests … and I have every confidence, every confidence, in our Defense Force and our security agencies to do just that,” the prime minister added.
The ship is currently outside of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, according to ABC.
The research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao is en route to China's port city of Sanya and is expected to be there at the end of the next month, according to MarineTraffic.
Last month, Australia said that the three Chinese warships that were involved in live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea — a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand — had re-entered its exclusive economic zone.
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