By Stephen Dziedzic and Andrew Greene, ABC
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has pressed China to be more transparent about the actions of its warships off Australia's east coast after they issued a live fire drill warning at short notice on Friday, forcing multiple commercial airlines to divert flights over the Tasman Sea.
Senator Wong met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in South Africa just hours after the ships conducted the exercise, which analysts say was an unprecedented demonstration of China's growing naval power near Australian shores.
Defence Minister Judith Collins says there is no confirmation a live firing activity has happened.
Late on Friday an Australian Defence spokesperson said the People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) flotilla failed to inform the Australian military of the drill, and instead simply issued a "verbal radio broadcast on a civil aircraft channel" of its plan to conduct the activity.
"The PLA-N did not inform Defence of its intent to conduct a live fire activity, and has not provided any further information," the spokesperson said in a statement.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CASA) and Airservices Australia said it responded by issuing an alert to all commercial airlines with flights planned in the area "as a precaution".
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was unclear whether the Chinese navy had actually fired any of its weaponry, although the ships assumed a formation usually used for live fire drills.
The Defence spokesperson said the Chinese naval formation had "now reverted to normal indicating that the live fire activity has most likely ceased".
"No weapon firings were heard or seen; however, a floating surface firing target was deployed by the PLA-N and subsequently recovered," the spokesperson confirmed.
Three Chinese vessels were recently spotted 150 nautical miles east of Sydney. Photo: ABC / Department of Defence
Defence added that while the exercise was conducted in line with international law, China failed to follow "best practice" because it didn't provide notice 24-48 hours in advance to "minimise disruption to aircraft and vessels."
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Friday authorities were not directly notified by the Chinese military that possible live firing exercises would be conducted in international waters of the Tasman Sea, a practice normally followed by Australia.
"When the Australian navy does live firing, we would typically try to give 12-24 hours' notice so that airlines are able to properly plan around what we're doing," he told the ABC.
"That notice wasn't provided here and so I can understand why … this was very disconcerting."
The ABC understands Penny Wong raised the military exercises with Wang Yi in South Africa, pressing her counterpart on both the lack of transparency around the flotilla's movements and the short notice given ahead of the exercises.
Simmering concerns
Earlier, Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun brushed off a question about the drill, saying the exercises were "conducted in a safe, standard, and professional manner at all times, in accordance with relevant international laws and practices".
Security analysts have described Friday's events in the Tasman Sea as "unprecedented", while privately Australian and US officials believe it could be a preview of further and more assertive Chinese military activity deep into this region.
The Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang was among the Chinese flotilla sailing east of Sydney. Photo: ABC / Department of Defence
"I've not heard of China conducting live fire exercises this far south, in fact it's very unusual for their surface task groups to come this far at all, so in combination I think it's fair to say it's unprecedented," Euan Graham from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.
"They're showing that they have the means, even without bases in the area, that they can project force on a regular basis at a meaningful level, close to Australia and in the numbers game of course China wins.
"Australia has a very small, capable navy, but a very small navy - there are plans to increase its size but for the moment the fleet is being shown to be rather thread-bare in its capacity."
Friday's incident comes just five days after a meeting between Australia's Vice Chief of Defence, Air Marshal Robert Chipman, and senior Chinese military leader General Xu Qiling in Beijing - the first such meeting since 2019.
- ABC, with RNZ
