(Rod McGuirk’s post from the AP NEWS on 21 February 2025.)
China issued ‘disconcerting’ warning of live-fire
exercises to planes flying above, Australia says: Airliners were over the
Tasman Sea crossing between Australia and New Zealand when the Chinese navy
warned they were flying over a secret live-fire exercise, Australian Defense
Minister Richard Marles said on Friday.
Regulator Airservices Australia warned commercial
pilots of a potential hazard in airspace between the countries as three Chinese
warships conducted live-frie exercises off the Australian east coast. But
Marles said Australian authorities only learned about China’s live-firing plans
in international waters midway between Australia and New Zealand from the
airlines.
“To be clear, we weren’t notified by China,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Perth. “What China did was put out a notification that it was intending to engage in live firing. By that, I mean a broadcast that was picked up by airlines or literally ... commercial planes that were flying across the Tasman,” Marles said. “This was very disconcerting for the planes that were flying,” he added.
Three flights from Sydney bound for the New Zealand
cities of Christchurch and Queenstown were in the air on Friday morning before
they were first warned by a Chinese warship of a live-fire exercise, media
reported.
All changed course. The three airlines involved,
Emirates, Qantas and Virgin Australia, did not comment. Marles said the
Australian navy would typically give 12 to 24 hours’ notice of a live-firing
exercise to allow airlines time to properly plan around it. But he said all
flights were able to divert and no one was put in danger.
The warships — frigate Hengyang, cruiser Zunyi and replenishment vessel Weishanhu — are exercising a freedom of navigation in international waters off the Australian east coast of a kind that angers Beijing when exercised by the Australian military in the disputed South China Sea.
During a regular Chinese foreign ministry briefing
on Friday, spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China’s military had organized its
fleet to conduct high seas exercises. “The drill was carried out in a safe,
standard and professional manner in compliance with relevant international law
and international practice” Guo said.
Australian defense officials were uncertain whether
any live fire of weapons had occurred. The risk had since passed, Australian
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “There was no imminent risk of danger to
any Australian assets or New Zealand assets,” Albanese told reporters, citing
information from his Defense Ministry.
New Zealand’s aviation regulator did not issue
warnings. The Civil Aviation Authority said it was “aware” of the Australian
advice, according to a statement. The authority did not explain its decision.
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| Destroyer-Cruiser ZunYi |
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she would discuss the air service disruption when she meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a G20 ministers meeting underway in South Africa.
Flight monitoring websites showed multiple flights
had avoided an area between Australia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand, the
country’s national carrier, said in a statement it had “modified flight paths
as needed to avoid the area, with no impact on our operations.”
Australian and New Zealand military ships and P-8
Poseidon surveillance planes have been monitoring the Chinese warships for
days. Chinese warships rarely venture so far south in a deployment regarded as
a demonstration of the Chinese navy’s growing size and capabilities.
Captain Steve Cornell, vice president of the
Australian and International Pilots Association, which represents Qantas
pilots, was critical of where the Chinese chose to hold their exercise. “It’s a
big bit of ocean and you would think that they could have parked somewhere less
inconvenient whilst they flexed their muscles,” he added. The Chinese exercise
was legal and took place in international waters outside Australia’s exclusive
economic zone, Albanese said.
