‘Disconcerting’: Australia confronts China over live weapons exercise

The Albanese government has lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over a live weapons drill between Australia and New Zealand, as the Defence Minister reveals China is yet to give a ‘satisfactory’ explanation.

Chinese PLA navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang. Picture: ADF

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Defence Minister Richard Marles has said China has not given a “satisfactory” explanation for the live weapons drills conducted off the Australian coast on Friday, describing the circumstances as “disconcerting”.

Mr Marles said on Saturday the issue had been raised with Chinese authorities but they had not yet provided an answer as to why the notice period was so short.

“I don’t think we have a satisfactory answer from China as to the question of the notice, we would have preferred that there was much more notice provided so that we didn’t have the disconcerting set of circumstances yesterday,” Mr Marles said.

Mr Marles said while China has not breached international law, he was ensured an “unprecedented level” of assets to surveil the Chinese ships.

“They are not breaching international law, but nor are we in terms of the surveillance that we’re putting in place,” he said.

Diplomatic protest

The Albanese government has lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing after commercial flights were forced to change course at short notice to avoid a live weapons drill by Chinese warships between Australia and New Zealand.

At least three flights were ­diverted around the Chinese naval task group after Beijing issued a warning on Friday morning that its vessels were preparing to ­conduct target practice, about 650km east of Eden.

Mr Marles said Australian authorities were not directly notified by the Chinese that the drills would occur, and had learned of the ­danger from a radio broadcast to flights in the area. He said the short notice was in contrast to the 12 to 24 hours that the Australian Navy would typically provide before firing live munitions.

Penny Wong raised the matter with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a ­Friday night meeting at the G20 foreign ministers’ summit in South Africa, complaining at the lack of warning time.

“We have concerns about the transparency associated with it,” Senator Wong told the ABC ahead of the talks.

Beijing said its warships’ were operating “in accordance with relevant international laws”. China’s foreign ministry said the PLA Navy was simply conducting training exercises in “distant” waters. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “(The drills) were conducted in a safe, standard, and professional manner at all times, in accordance with relevant international laws and practices.”

Former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo said China’s latest actions were needlessly ­provocative.

“Saying that a live-fire exercise is consistent with international law rather misses the point,” Mr Pezzullo said on Friday night.

“What is the purpose of the PLA show of force? How would China react if we were to conduct live-fire exercises in the vicinity of busy air traffic routes off the ­Chinese coast?”

Former Defence official ­Michael Shoebridge said the Chinese warships’ actions underscored that “Australia’s geography no longer protects our population or key infrastructure from military threats”.

“We have an obvious and urgent homeland defence problem,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“Investments must be made ­urgently in a greatly expanded, layered, air and missile defence program to protect bases and key civilian infrastructure and to have some capacity to be sited at key population centres as threats evolve.”

Australia’s protest to Beijing followed another by Canberra over an incident last week in which a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares in front of a RAAF surveillance aircraft endangering up to a dozen Australian crew.

Airservices Australia issued a notice to airlines after learning of the live fire drill, alerting pilots of dangers up to 50,000 feet, and that flights should change course to avoid a 19 nautical mile exclusion zone around the warships.

A Qantas flight from Sydney to Auckland was in the air when the warning was issued and changed its course to avoid the area.

Qantas confirmed it “temporarily adjusted” some flights across the Tasman, while an Emirates flight from Sydney to Christchurch was also diverted.

A New Zealand frigate was shadowing the Chinese ships about 640km east of Eden when it observed one of the ships deploy a floating target and the ships move into a firing-drill formation.

The target was recovered a short time later, and it was unclear whether any live rounds were fired. The People’s Liberation Army-Navy provided no further information on the drill or its ­intentions, prompting authorities to maintain flight diversions into the evening.

Mr Marles said China had not broken international law but airlines were used to having more notice of such drills.

“We would be giving much greater notice,” the Defence Minister told the ABC. “And the reason we do that is so that airlines are able to plan around the activities that we are undertaking. That notice wasn’t provided here and so I can understand why … this was very disconcerting for the planes that were flying.

“But they were able to divert and of course, you know, there was never any prospect of anyone putting planes in danger.”

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

The Prime Minister said he had discussed the matter with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon, and that both nations’ ­militaries were closely monitoring the Chinese warships.

Australian and International Pilots Association vice president Steve Cornell said commercial flights typically flew at 30,000 to 35,000 feet, which put them at risk from live-firing drills.

“While it is unusual to have Chinese warships in this part of the world, pilots often have to contend with obstacles to safe navigation, whether that be from military ­exercises such as this or other events like rocket launches, space debris or volcanic eruptions,” Captain Cornell said.

“That being said, it’s a big bit of ocean and you think they could have parked somewhere less ­disruptive while they flexed their muscles.”

Qantas and Jetstar said they were continuing to monitor the airspace in which their aircraft ­operated and they had temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman.

Virgin Australia was also watching the situation following Airservice Australia’s advice.

Chinese military commentators told Beijing’s state-owned Global Times that Australians and New Zealanders should get used to more frequent PLA exercises in their near neighbourhood.

“The PLA Navy is expected to host more such far seas voyages,” said Zhang Junshe. “Some countries are used to the US Navy’s frequent voyages but have not yet adapted to seeing the PLA Navy’s normal voyages.”

The ADF had been tracking three Chinese warships since early last week. One of the warships passed through the Torres Strait between Cape York and Papua New ­Guinea. It notified the public of their presence off Australia’s northeast coast last Thursday, but neglected to reveal in the days since that the ships were heading south, and that they passed within 270km of Sydney.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie accused the government of failing to take a firm enough line with China to ­ensure it showed “mutual respect” for Australian forces.

Mr Marles said Mr Hastie had not even sought a briefing on the Chinese ships, accusing his counterpart of a “desperate politicisation” of the situation.

Additional reporting: Robyn ironside, Sarah Ison