‘Hyped it up’: China hits back over live fire drills

China has accused Australia of making “unreasonable accusations” over a series of live fire drills being held in international waters between Australian and New Zealand.

China has accused Australia of making “hyped” claims and “unreasonable accusations” over its live fire naval drills in international waters between Australia and New Zealand.

Australian Defence Force officials says they are monitoring two People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) frigates and a replenishment vessel in the Coral Sea.

The flotilla has since navigated down the east coast, passing within 270km of Sydney, and conducted two live fire drills in the Tasman Sea on Friday and Saturday.

Australia has formally protested the live fire exercises, the first of which forced at least two commercial flights to alter their courses at short notice.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday that Chinese authorities had not given a “satisfactory” explanation.

In a statement, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian disputed the Australian government’s version of events, saying it had issued repeated safety notices.

“China’s actions are in full compliance with international law and international practices and will not affect aviation flight safety,” Mr Wu said.

“Australia, knowing this well, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up. We are deeply surprised and strongly dissatisfied with this.”

A trio of Chinese warships have conducted live fire drills in the Tasman Sea. Picture: NewsWire / Handout / Australian Defence Force

The opposition has accused the Albanese government of not being tough enough with Beijing.

But Mark Butler on Sunday dismissed the criticism, saying the Coalition had not “actually put a suggestion about what alternatively we should be doing”.

“The Australian Defence Force is conducting surveillance exercises to ensure that we have a good line of sight on these operations by the Chinese,” the cabinet minister told Sky News.

“They’re in international waters just as we operate in international waters including up in north Asia.

“It’s our right to do that, it’s China’s right to do that, it’s the right of every nation to do that.

“But of course we are watching closely. We have maritime and aviation assets in the area.”

Mr Butler said the opposition was “using a bit of loudhailer diplomacy again here for domestic political purposes”.

“This is juvenile, this is student politics,” he said.

“They have not said one thing they would have the ADF do that we’re not currently doing.

“The ADF know how to manage this. I have complete confidence in their ability to manage it.”

Mr Marles, who also serves as defence minister, said an “unprecedented level of both naval and Air Force assets to monitor what this task group is doing”.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor on Sunday told Sky News that the government was “not standing up for the national interest”, labelling the situation “gunboat diplomacy”.

“There needs to be mutual respect in these relationships, and that’s about more than just notice,” he said.

“I mean, saying you need notice for someone to sit off your coast and engage in gunboat diplomacy, which is exactly what’s happened here.

“I mean, that’s completely unacceptable, and the government needs to say that very clearly.

“It’s important we have the best possible relationship we can with China … but it has to be in the context of mutual respect.”

Originally published as ‘Hyped it up’: China hits back over live fire drills