China blasts New Zealand Defence Force P-8A patrol flight as 'malicious, harassment'

In addition, the PRC alleges that the P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft conducted persistent close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea in disregard of China’s warnings.

“The New Zealand air force recently conducted repeated close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. The action undermined China’s security interests, increased risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and gravely disrupted the order of civil aviation in relevant airspace,” according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Guo Jiakun

“China has responded in a resolute manner and lodged serious protests with New Zealand.

“China urges New Zealand to abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations, respect China’s sovereignty and security concerns and maintain the safety and order of civil aviation.

The Chinese military has reportedly taken professional and forceful measures to respond to and deal with the situation, and lodged stern representations with the New Zealand government.

The New Zealand Defence Force, responding in an official an statement on April 18, said New Zealand has contributed to UN sanctions monitoring since 2018.

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“These activities are not directed at China but rather aim to monitor evasions of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, which do occur in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea,” according to the official statement.

“The New Zealand Defence Force crew operated professionally and in accordance with international law and civil aviation procedures for the region. NZDF has reviewed the routes flown and all available information. We have no data which indicates they disrupted civil aviation.

“New Zealand takes an open and transparent approach to these operations. As part of this, there has been dialogue between New Zealand and Chinese officials, and we have made it clear that this is a longstanding deployment enforcing UN-mandated sanctions on North Korea.”

The PRC has recently stepped up scientific research experiments and training tasks in the South China Sea to test systems and platforms of China's first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, PLANS Sichuan (Hull 51).

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.