CANBERRA: The Australian government on Saturday confronted China as it failed to give a satisfactory answer for its inadequate notice ahead of its live-fire training exercise in the waters between Australia and New Zealand.
The live-fire exercises conducted on Friday by Chinese warships caused commercial flights between Australia and New Zealand to divert their routes.
An Australian Defence spokesperson on Friday said that the Chinese warships failed to inform the Australian military of the live exercise, and instead simply issued a "verbal radio broadcast on a civil aircraft channel" of its plan to conduct the activity, according to a report by local media.
In an interview with local media, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said, "When we do an activity of this kind, we would typically give 12 to 24 hours' notice. The point is that it allows any plane which is coming near where we are the opportunity to plan a route around the exercise that we're doing. And you don't have the kind of mid-air disruption that we saw yesterday, and you don't have those disconcerting circumstances."
He stated that "what happened yesterday was that the notice that was provided was very short. It was obviously very disconcerting for the airlines involved in trans-Tasman flights."
"It's the responsibility of any navy, any military, to make sure that when do undertake any live firing, you are doing so in a manner which is safe relative to any commercial traffic, be it sea or air, which is in the vicinity, " he further added.
Another point that Marles raised is that it is unusual for a Task Group, a Chinese Task Group, to be where it is. It's about 640 kilometres off the coast of Australia, off Eden, basically halfway between Australia and New Zealand.
Marles further stated that the issue the Australian Government has raised with China is the period of notice. And the Australian Government has done that both in Canberra, and in Beijing, as Foreign Minister of Australia, Penny Wong raised this directly with Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said that she demanded an explanation for the conduct of Chinese naval vessels.
Taking to X, she posted, "Today, I met with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in South Africa. Calm and consistent dialogue with China enables us to progress our interests and advocate on issues that matter to Australians."
"I raised Australia's expectations around safe and professional military conduct, consular cases, human rights and other issues of concern. I also sought an explanation for Chinese naval vessels conducting live fire drills without advance notification, " the post further added.