It was a reciprocal visit. This visit is a courtesy and thank you visit for Australia sending a warship to attend the PLAN anniversary event in Qingdao. What is not equal is that Australia sent an old frigate and this lack of force size reciprocality is what makes me wonder. I suspect that Australia originally planned to send a much larger force, like an LPD and a tanker to the Qingdao event, then suddenly scaled it back. But the PLAN didn't change their plans, sent the escort task force from the Indian Ocean heading home to Australia anyway. Logically, with the frigate Xiangtan in Singapore, the PLAN should have sent that frigate from Singapore to Sydney.
