A commercial flight from Sydney to Christchurch was directly warned by the Chinese military to avoid a section of airspace on Tuesday morning as its warships reportedly conducted live-fire drills in the area.
The warning, issued to flight UAE3HJ at around 11am Sydney time, came amid concerns over increased Chinese military activity in international waters about 340 nautical miles southeast of the city, ABC News reported.
The incident prompted multiple airlines, including Qantas and Air New Zealand, to divert flights following formal advice from air traffic controllers.
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, said airplanes crossing the Tasman Sea were forced to change course after China issued an alert about its exercises, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Australian military, however, did not observe any live fire despite movements consistent with such drills.
China’s foreign ministry defended the drills. The People’s Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command “organised the Chinese fleet to conduct a far seas exercise”, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.
“The drill was carried out in a safe, standard, and professional manner in accordance with relevant international law and international practice.”
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the military exercises but refrained from criticising China. “This is activity that has occurred in waters consistent with international law,” he said, adding that “there has been no risk of danger to any Australian or New Zealand assets”.
Mr Albanese said he had spoken with his defence and foreign ministers as well as New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon about the matter.
Mr Marles expressed concern over the lack of prior notification from Beijing. “We weren’t notified by China; we became aware of the issue during the course of the day,” he told ABC Radio Perth. “What China did was put out a notification that it was intending to engage in live fire, and by that I mean a broadcast that was picked up by airlines–literally commercial planes flying across the Tasman.”
Foreign minister Penny Wong was expected to raise the matter with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
“We will be discussing this with the Chinese and already have at an official level in relation to the notice given and the…
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