China accuses Australia of ‘hyping up’ live-fire drills in Tasman Sea
“Notification did occur of this event, what we have done is to make representation, saying that we think best practice would be to give more notice, and we’ve done that through diplomatic channels, as is appropriate,” Albanese said.
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He said Foreign Minister Penny Wong had spoken to her Chinese counterpart about the matter.
Marles said Australia would typically give 12 to 24 hours’ notice of its military exercises.
“I don’t think we have a satisfactory answer from China in relation to this,” Marles told ABC television on Saturday.
“They definitely did notify an event yesterday and they did so with very little notice, and that was the issue that was very disconcerting for the airlines involved.”
It is unclear whether Australia had similar complaints about the second live-fire drill.
This masthead reported on Friday that Qantas said both it and budget offshoot Jetstar temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman after receiving warnings of the drills, adding that it was working with the Australian government and broader industry to monitor the situation. Virgin and Emirates flights to New Zealand also received warnings about the exercises.
New Zealand said on Saturday that its navy frigates had observed a second day of live fire exercises by the Chinese warships, which had advised of the activity via radio.
“The safety of all people, aircraft and vessels in the area remains our paramount concern,” New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins’ office said.
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“Our concerns regarding notification times and best practise when undertaking military exercises stand, and will be communicated appropriately.”
Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has accused Albanese of “weakness” in confronting China over the incident, which he described as “gunboat diplomacy to test US allies like Australia”.
Wong raised the issue of the Chinese ships with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yo two days ago in Johannesburg at a G20 meeting.
“I raised Australia’s expectations around safe and professional military conduct, consular cases, human rights and other issues of concern,” Wong posted on X.“I also sought an explanation for Chinese naval vessels conducting live fire drills without advance notification.
Wang told the Australian foreign minister that bilateral ties had stabilised but he hoped Australia would continue to “properly handle any differences and disagreements”, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Saturday.
There was no mention of China’s military conduct in the statement.
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