New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins said Monday that a Chinese naval group conducting military exercises in the Tasman Sea was armed with "extremely capable" weaponry with the ability to target mainland Australia.
Calling the minimal advance warning provided by Chinese authorities of two so-called live-fire exercises by the People's Liberation Army warships southeast of Australia on Friday and Saturday "unusual", Collins said the presence of such a powerful naval force was an omen of the need for New Zealand to ramp up defense spending amid rising strategic rivalry in the region.
"We've certainly never seen a task group of this capability undertaking this sort of work, it's certainly a change," she said of the incident which forced the last-minute diversions of at least three flights in the area.
"The weapons they have are extremely capable. One has 112 vertical launch cells and has reported anti-ship ballistic missile range of 540 nautical miles," said Collins, who added that the battle group was now 280 miles east of Tasmania and being shadowed by the New Zealand Navy frigate Te Kaha.
Collins said that as far as she was aware the Jiangkai-class frigate, Hengyang, Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and Fuchi-class supply vessel Weishanhu that made up Taskgroup 107 were conventional non-nuclear powered ships that were not carrying nuclear weapons or missiles capable of being armed with a nuclear warhead.
However, she expressed frustration that Chinese authorities were rejecting information requests regarding the movements of the warships.
China's defense ministry complained that both New Zealand and Australia had purposely exaggerated the actions of its navy, insisting that they were perfectly legal.
"Australia, knowing this well, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up," said Chinese defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian. "We are deeply surprised and strongly dissatisfied with this."
1 comment:
Reminds me of The Bedford Incident, a 1965 movie that documented a Russian nuclear armed submarine probing Greenland territorial waters searching for a theorized firing position against western targets. The same here with Chinese ships (missiles armed with nuclear warheads?) right between AU & NZ. Potentially a Cold War drama comes to life 60 years hence.
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