Chinese warships carry out live fire exercises and worry Australia and New Zealand

Chinese warships carry out live fire exercises and worry Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand expressed new concerns about the recently carried out live fire exercises by Chinese warships, which are equipped with "extremely powerful" weapons. This unprecedented demonstration of military strength in the past week is interpreted by analysts as part of Beijing's continuous plan to build a marine with a global range.

live fire exercises in the Tasmanian Sea

A association of the Chinese Navy carried out two live fire exercises in the Tasmanian Sea on Friday and Saturday, between Australia and New Zealand. These exercises forced passenger planes to force to change your course in the middle of flight , which alerted the officials in both countries.

Unprecedented Exercises and Military Capabilities

Judith Collins, the Minister of Defense in New Zealand, described the exercises as unprecedented. "We have never seen that a mission association or a task group conducts such exercises with this ability. It is definitely a change," said Collins in an interview with the public service Radio New Zealand (RNZ) on Monday.

"The weapons they own are extremely powerful. One of the ships has 112 vertical launch ramps and has a reported range for ballistic anti-ship rockets of 540 nautical miles," she added.

reactions from China and Australia

Chinese state media that western countries should get used to such military exercises. Song Zhongping, an expert in military matters in China, said to the nationalist sheet of Global Times that the Navy of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would increasingly carry out exercises not only near the coast, but also in international waters.

"Since such exercises are becoming more common, some countries should prepare for this trend," said Song.

Australia expresses concerns

The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, found on Saturday that China's exercises corresponded to the international laws, but could have been given a little more advance notice.

The Foreign Minister of Australia, Penny Wong, was looking for an explanation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi when she met in Johannesburg on the edge of a G20 meeting of Foreign Minister.

On Sunday, China's Ministry of Defense criticized Australia to "bloze" the exercises and to raise "unsustainable accusations". Wu Qian, a spokesman for the ministry, said that China had given security instructions in good time and that the exercises in international waters met the international laws and did not affect the safety of aviation.

Criticism of China's advance announcements

Collins pointed out that China's warnings were too short -term. "There was a warning for the civil aviation, but it was basically very short-term, only a few hours, in contrast to what we consider as best practice, namely 12-24 hours in advance so that the aircraft does not have to be diverted during the flight," she told 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.

Visiting the New Zealand Vice Prime Minister in China

Winston Peters, the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, will visit China on Tuesday, invited by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.