Chinese military exercise that disrupted flights across Tasman ‘posed no risk of danger’

Friday, 21 February 2025

Commercial flights, including Air NZ, were forced to divert course and a defence plane was reportedly ordered to “stay away” amid a Chinese military exercise in the Tasman on Friday.

Defence Minister Judith Collins on Friday night said she had been keeping a close eye on the unfolding situation but was not aware of specific allegations that a Qantas flight on the way to Auckland was reportedly “harassed” while Chinese warships were conducting firing exercises.

Pilots were warned of mid-air hazards during what was thought to be a live fire exercise on Friday, which defence experts have described as “unprecedented” and “pretty extraordinary”.

There are three Chinese warships - Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class Cruiser named Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu - were between New Zealand and Australia conducting military exercises.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has told China to be more transparent about the actions of its warships, the ABC reported. Senator Wong met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in South Africa just hours after the ships conducted the exercise.

The People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) warships - Task Group 107 - broadcast on a civil aircraft channel its intent on Friday to conduct live firing activity in the Tasman Sea.

Airservices Australia issued notices of potential hazards to aircraft.

The Chinese ships did not inform Australia’s Defence Force of its intent to conduct a live fire activity, and have not provided any further information, a statement from an Australian Department of Defence said.

But the ships have now reverted to normal formation “indicating that the live fire activity has most likely ceased”.

“No weapon firings were heard or seen; however, a floating surface firing target was deployed by the PLA-N and subsequently recovered.”

Collins previously confirmed the vessels were being monitored by “air and sea” by both New Zealand and Australia. She said a New Zealand P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft had been sent, but she would not disclose which naval vessel.

The Sydney Morning Herald, however, reported taht crew on HMNZS Te Kahawas shadowing the Chinese ships and reported observing behaviour “consistent with a live-fire activity” and monitored the Chinese ships deploying and recovering a floating target.

The NZ crew did not report observing any fires on the target and said there was no indication of any surface-to-air firing, the Australian newspaper said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reassured that there had been no “imminent risk of danger to any Australian assets or New Zealand assets”.

He was it was unclear whether there was any live fire used in the area, “but it is consistent with international law.”

Collins echoed this.

The Prime Minister’s office has also been contacted.

The Australian Department of Defence said People’s Liberation Army’s Navy has followed the law in telling aircraft about the live fire activity but that the best practice was to give more notice - usually 24 to 48 hours.

On Saturday Airservices Australia said in a statement that it was “continuing to engage with airlines, other Australian government agencies and neighbouring air navigation service providers to ensure the safety of aircraft operations in the potentially affected areas”.

Air NZ reroutes after China notice

Air New Zealand said in a statement it had “modified flight paths as needed to avoid the area, with no impact on our operations.”

Quoting sources, the AFR also reported that a New Zealand military plane was told by the Chinese ship to “stay away”. The aircraft responded that it was in international waters conducting lawful operations. The Chinese ship responded that the aircraft “would be endangered if it came to within 19 nautical miles of the ship”, AFR reported its source as saying.

Quoting sources speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to do so publicly, the AFR Weekend also reported that a Qantas 787 flying from Brisbane to Auckland was “harassed” by the Chinese exercise, which involved firing into the air, up to 50,000 feet.

Qantas confirmed the airline “temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman”.

“We continue to work with the Australian government and broader industry to monitor the situation.”

The ABC reported an Emirates flight from Sydney to Christchurch had been “directly warned” at 11am, Sydney time, to avoid the airspace.

Collins ‘keeping a close eye’

When contacted by The Post on Friday evening, Collins said that she had not been informed of the incident.

'Not that particular accusation,' Collins said. “I've been keeping a close eye on matters today and that was not what I have been told.”

When it comes to Defence Force interactions with other nations “our interactions are always extremely professional,” she added.

“We've heard that there was quite a lot of chatter and we've been keeping a close eye on it along with Australians.”

Collins said that she had been in close contact with her counterpart, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles throughout Friday.

A “troubling development”

While Labour defence spokesperson Peeni Henare said the incident was a “troubling development and a possible violation of international law, if true”, Collins said she and Marles were “not overreacting, because ultimately these ships are able to be in the water where they are, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

'If these details are correct, this is a pretty, pretty extraordinary series of events,' director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington David Capie said.

'When you've got New Zealand aircraft operating in international airspace so close to our own country, it's a pretty remarkable piece of signaling by the PLA. [People's Liberation Army]'

'You know, they're demonstrating that they've got a much greater ability to project maritime power … these sorts of things, you know, they're all very carefully planned and organized … it's just a further reflection of, you know, China's growing presence in our immediate neighbourhood,' he said.

Australia’s Euan Graham from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the ABC it was unusual for Chinese ships to come this far south.

'I've not heard of China conducting live fire exercises this far south, in fact it's very unusual for their surface task groups to come this far at all, so in combination I think it's fair to say it's unprecedented.“

'They're showing that they have the means, even without bases in the area, that they can project force on a regular basis at a meaningful level, close to Australia and in the numbers game of course China wins.

'Australia has a very small, capable navy, but a very small navy - there are plans to increase its size but for the moment the fleet is being shown to be rather thread-bare in its capacity.'

Keeping tabs on the ships

The UK's Financial Times has previously reported the flotilla was about 150 nautical miles (277 kilometres) east of Sydney.

Collins previously confirmed the vessels were being monitored by “air and sea” by both New Zealand and Australia. She said a New Zealand P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft had been sent, but she would not disclose which naval vessel.

“I'm not quite sure what they're doing right now, but they're between Australia and New Zealand. They have huge capacity these ships - really, really amazing capacity.”

At a press conference on Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson declined to comment.

According to Collins, Chinese military vessels have not been this far south before, but reached Port Vila in Vanuatu in late 2024. Then, as now, Aotearoa sent air and sea assets to monitor them.

The New Zealand Defence Force and Embassy of China in New Zealand have been asked for comment.

‘They are making a point’

Former Defence Minister Dr Wayne Mapp said Collins was right not to overreact too soon, and that not everything China did should be treated with alarm.

But if it was correct that the vessels were conducting live-fire exercises without following correct processes and notifying relevant states, it would be a serious breach.

“More to the point, if they are doing that in the Tasman Sea, they are doing it deliberately to make a point to both Australia and New Zealand,” Mapp said.

“There are thousands of miles of ocean between here and China where they could have done it.”

Mapp was Minister of Defence under Prime Minister John Key. In his time in office he oversaw a review of the defence force in 2010, where China’s growing security challenges in the region was highlighted.

“And so it has come to pass,” Mapp said.

“Their actions vis a vis the Cook Islands, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, they are going out of their way to establish a presence and are almost daring Australia and New Zealand to push back.”

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Winston Peters was attending the G20 in Johannesburg this week.