Australia warns airlines to beware of a potential Chinese navy live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia warned airlines flying between Australian airports and New Zealand to beware of Chinese warships potentially conducting a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea, officials said Friday.

Regulator Airservices Australia warned commercial pilots of a potential hazard in airspace between the countries as three Chinese warships conduct exercises off the Australian east coast.

China had given notice that the warships could potentially fire live weapons during an exercise, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Australian defense officials were uncertain whether any live fire of weapons had occurred. The risk had since passed, Albanese said.

“There was no imminent risk of danger to any Australian assets or New Zealand assets,” Albanese told reporters, citing information from his Defense Ministry.

Air New Zealand, the country’s national carrier, said in a statement it had “modified flight paths as needed to avoid the area, with no impact on our operations.”

Virgin Australia said it was following Airservices Australia instructions, but did not say whether its New Zealand services had been diverted.

Pilots of Virgin, Qantas and Emirates flights from Sydney to New Zealand diverted their courses after hearing one of the warships broadcast a warning of an imminent live-fire exercise, Nine Network television reported.

Australian and New Zealand military ships and P-8 Poseidon surveillance planes have been monitoring the Chinese warships — frigate Hengyang, cruiser Zunyi and replenishment vessel Weishanhu — for days.

Chinese warships rarely venture so far south in a deployment regarded as a demonstration of the Chinese navy’s growing size and capabilities.

Australian and International Pilots Association Vice President Captain Steve Cornell, who represents pilots from Australia’s largest airline Qantas, was critical of where the Chinese choose to hold their exercise.

“Whilst it was unusual to have Chinese warships in this part of the world, pilots often have to contend with obstacles to safe navigation, whether that be from military exercises such as this or other events like rocket launches, space debris or volcanic eruptions,” Cornell said.

“That being said, it’s a big bit of ocean and you would think that they could have parked somewhere less inconvenient whilst they flexed their muscles,” he added.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will discuss the deployment when she meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a G20 ministers meeting underway in South Africa, Albanese said.

The Chinese exercise was legal and took place in international waters outside Australia’s exclusive economic zone, Albanese said.

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Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.