Chinese warship live-fire drills in Tasman Sea Rassle New Zealand and Australia

Hong Kong
Cnn
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On Monday, New Zealand led new concerns about nearby live fire drills of Chinese warships with “extremely capable” weapons, an unprecedented show of firepower last week, say analysts.

A Chinese naval formation took place on Friday and Saturday two live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand and prompted the passenger aircraft to change the course in the middle of the flight and rattling officials in both countries.

Judith Collins, Minister of Defense of New Zealand, said the exercises were unprecedented.

“We have never seen a task force or task group of these skills that do this type of work. So it is certainly a change, ”Collins told Radio New Zealand (RNZ) on Monday.

“The weapons they have are extremely capable. One has 112 vertical start cells and has reported a ballistic range of 540 nautical miles with anti-ship rockets, ”she said.

Chinese state media have proposed that western countries should get used to such military exercises in their nearby waters.

The song of Song Zhongping, an expert for Chinese military matters, told the nationalist tabloid of the global times that the Navy of the Volksfreundungs ​​Army (PLA) will increasingly carry out exercises not only near the shore of China, but also in international waters.

Since such exercises are becoming more common, some countries should adapt to this trend, Song told the newspaper.

The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that China's drills would have adhered to international law, but Beijing “could notice more”.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that she was looking for an explanation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi when the two met on Saturday on the sidelines of a G20 foreign minister in Johannesburg.

China's Ministry of Defense beat Australia on Sunday because he had “woven up” the exercises and raised “inappropriate accusations”.

Wu Qian, a spokesman for the ministry, said China published safety awareness in advance and the exercises carried out in international waters under international law and no effects on the safety of aviation.

But Collins said China's warning was given too short -term.

“There was a warning for flights of civil aviation, which was basically a few hours, in contrast to what we would consider as best practice, that is 12-24 hours so that aircraft would not be redirected if if They are on the wing, ”she said to RNZ.

Collins added that the ships were currently about 280 nautical miles east of Tasmania and had slightly changed their formations, while they were carefully monitored by a New Zealand naval regatte.

The New Zealand deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters should visit China on Tuesday at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.