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China has accused Australia of overreacting to live-fire military drills in the Tasman Sea on Friday, which forced changes to some commercial flight paths.
The Chinese defence ministry said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles had made statements “completely inconsistent with the facts” on Saturday when they claimed China had provided insufficient notice for the exercises in international waters.
Qantas and Jetstar had both adjusted flight paths over the Tasman Sea in response to the drills, with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting that Virgin and Emirates flights were also warned.
“China’s actions are in full compliance with international law and international practices and will not affect aviation flight safety,” China defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said.
“Australia, knowing this well, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up. We are deeply surprised and strongly dissatisfied with this.”
According to Defence, China had alerted Australia of the same-day drills on Friday, resulting in the quick establishment of an 18-kilometre airspace protection zone up to 45,000 feet.
Speaking to media over the weekend, Minister Marles had said that while China had conducted the exercises in compliance with international law, it had not given Australia enough advance warning.
“They did so with very little notice and that was the issue that was very disconcerting for the airlines involved,” he said.
“We would typically give 12 to 24 hours’ notice, which enables aircraft that are going to potentially be in the vicinity to make plans to fly around.
“It’s the responsibility of any navy, any military, to make sure when you then 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.”
The Coalition used the incident to criticise both China and the Labor government, with its Defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, accusing the Prime Minister of weakness.
“The Chinese government has built a blue-water navy to project power into the Pacific region. They are now using gunboat diplomacy to test US allies like Australia,” he said.
“When will the Prime Minister and his Defence minister stand up for the Australian national interest and insist on mutual respect from their Chinese counterparts?”
The PM said he has made representations to China through diplomatic channels that more notice needs to be given in advance of future exercises.
