Planes flying between Australia and New Zealand have been diverted as China conducts a closely-scrutinised military exercise in nearby waters that may involve live fire.
The rare presence of three Chinese naval ships in the Tasman Sea has put both antipodean countries on alert in recent days, with Australia calling it “unusual”.
Australian airline Qantas told the BBC it “temporarily adjusted” the routes of its planes and other carriers have reportedly done the same.
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Australia and New Zealand have been closely monitoring the Chinese fleet - a frigate, a cruiser and a supply tanker - since last week, and have dispatched their own ships to observe them.
Earlier this week, New Zealand’s Defence Minister Judith Collins said China had not informed them they would be sending warships to their region and “have not deigned to advise us on what they are doing in the Tasman Sea”, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said that the ships’ presence was “not unprecedented, but it is an unusual event”.
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The drill comes just days after Australia and China held a defence dialogue in Beijing where they had discussed military transparency and communication, among other things.
The two countries have seen several recent tense maritime encounters.
Earlier this month, Canberra said a Chinese fighter jet had released flares in front of an Australian military aircraft while flying over the South China Sea. Beijing said the aircraft had “intentionally intruded” into its airspace.
In May last year, Australia accused a Chinese fighter plane of dropping flares close to an Australian navy helicopter that was part of a UN Security Council mission on the Yellow Sea.
And in November 2023, Canberra accused Beijing’s navy of using sonar pulses in international waters off Japan, resulting in Australian divers suffering injuries.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone 17 hours ago
it’s not rare that China is rude and defies national borders, China does it every week , just to different countries
they are acting like children and no one in the rest of the world respects them
eureka@aussie.zone 7 hours ago
That’s a bit near-sighted. Their regional neighbours obviously aren’t happy about them, nor 5EYES states like Australia, but to other regions like Africa and the Middle-East, their long-time bullies are countries such as the US, Britain and France (and in many cases that’s not just pushing boundaries, but a full-on military occupation and colonisation), so China’s relatively-peaceful diplomacy there in contrast to IMF economic strategies has certainly won wide respect there, and I suspect the USA’s recent diplomatic suicide, destruction of USAID and other forms of ‘turning inward’ will make China more appealing to distant countries as a stable and (in their eyes) relatively friendly partner.
About half the world (the Global South) generally sides politically with them more than the West, so this isn’t just nitpicking. The bottom line is that with three main powers to choose from, China (despite their rudeness in our region) is the one which has hurt the least of them.
This quote from a US DARPA medicine worker gives a typical example of how distant countries perceive Western and Eastern powers:
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 7 hours ago
Wow, that quote is insane.
I often wonder if our future selves will look back at the way the West has operated over this uni-polar moment and realise we have been quite cavalier and imperious in our behaviours towards others. In a geopolitical way, i mean.
Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 7 hours ago
There weren’t any claims about any national borders being crossed in the article.
The point of interest in this event is the fact that this is a new type of miliatristic behaviour from the Chinese regime towards Australia, and in this case New Zealand.
The other point of interest, is that of normal processes not being followed, which i would hope Australia does during our freedom of navigation exercises, and hopefully will be followed by the Chinese Navy in future.
To be clear, my problem with your comment, isn’t your opinion being expressed. Thats, of course yours, and none of my beeswax to police. But its the mischaracterisation of the events. In times like these, i think its damaging to our national conversation to mischaracterise events like these, whether unintentional or not.