The maritime incident involving a Chinese warship aiming a military-grade laser at an Australian surveillance aircraft was designed to test the response of allied forces in the region, according to a diplomacy expert. “I always thought if China wanted to probe America in the South China Sea, or they wanted to probe the Australian-American connection, they would attack an Australian ship first,” Joseph Siracusa, adjunct professor in international diplomacy at Curtin University, told The Epoch Times. “For example, that might be a small sea battle in the South China Sea where a Chinese frigate takes on an Australian frigate, or a Chinese torpedo boat sinks an Australian frigate to test the alliance,” he added. “When I saw that laser [incident]—that’s really a challenge both to Australia and to the United States … these mini-attacks on Australian assets, it’s really a feint or attempt to see how far they can go …