Latest news with #Taskgroup107
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chinese warships with ‘extremely capable' missiles alarm New Zealand and Australia
Chinese warships conducting unusual exercises near Tasmania are armed with 'extremely capable' long-range ballistic missiles, New Zealand's defence minister warned. The three ships, known as Taskgroup 107, undertook live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea on Friday and Saturday, triggering a diplomatic row and forcing commercial airlines to divert flights mid-air. Judith Collins, the New Zealand defence minister, said: 'We've certainly never seen a task group of this capability undertaking this sort of work, it's certainly a change. '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.' The drills happened much further south than usual, and come amid tensions over Taiwan and in the South Pacific, where Western influence is waning in the face of a resurgent China. Australia and New Zealand are tracking the vessels, which are 320 miles east of Tasmania but came within 150 miles of Sydney last week. The Australian Defence Force said the formation consisted of a frigate, a cruiser and a replenishment vessel, and had been travelling down the coast of Australia since mid-February. The ships have not crossed into Canberra's territorial waters – 12 nautical miles from the coastline – but are inside Australia's exclusive economic zone. Wellington and Canberra both said the live fire actions happened at much shorter notice than would be expected. 'They're not telling us what they're planning,' Ms Collins said on Monday. 'We're taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they're not breaking the law. 'But as we've said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing.' After Australia's prime minister said it would have been 'appropriate to have given more warning', a spokesman at China's defence ministry claimed Canberra had 'deliberately hyped it up' with an account that was 'completely inconsistent with the facts'. Ms Collins said the latest war exercises were a sharp demonstration that New Zealand needed to 'clearly step up our game'. 'I think we should be very aware that we live in a world of increasing geopolitical competition, that the seabed of the Pacific Ocean is viewed by some countries as an area of enormous resource.' 'We have to be aware that we are in a situation … in the Indo-Pacific region, of sitting on an enormous treasury with a very small lock to protect it.' Though Australia and New Zealand are dependent on Chinese trade, they are at odds on strategic issues including the South China Sea, Chinese influence in the South Pacific and the Taiwan Strait. Analysts said the latest war exercises, conducted some 6,000 miles from China, were 'very unusual'. 'This is a very unusual demonstration of force so far from China's mainland, without clear messaging from China about its intentions towards New Zealand and Australia,' Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Bloomberg. '[It] disrupted civil aviation and raises serious doubts about the credibility of Beijing's rhetoric and assertion that it is not a threat to the peace and stability of the entire Pacific.' China is increasingly projecting its military power in the Indo-Pacific region, where it has been courting strategic new partners and potentially lucrative resources. The Cook Islands, which operates in 'free association' with Wellington and whose citizens hold New Zealand passports, struck a controversial 'strategic partnership' deal with Beijing earlier this month. It does not include defence, but instead centres on economic, infrastructure and maritime, and seabed mineral development. New Zealand said it was not consulted on the deal, and warned that it could have 'significant security implications' for the region. Winston Peters, New Zealand's foreign minister, said he would raise the country's concerns during a three-day trip to China set to begin on Tuesday. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Chinese warships with ‘extremely capable' missiles alarm New Zealand and Australia
Chinese warships conducting unusual exercises near Tasmania are armed with 'extremely capable' long-range ballistic missiles, New Zealand's defence minister warned. The three ships, known as Taskgroup 107, undertook live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea on Friday and Saturday, triggering a diplomatic row and forcing commercial airlines to divert flights mid-air. Judith Collins, the New Zealand defence minister, said: 'We've certainly never seen a task group of this capability undertaking this sort of work, it's certainly a change. '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.' The drills happened much further south than usual, and come amid tensions over Taiwan and in the South Pacific, where Western influence is waning in the face of a resurgent China. Australia and New Zealand are tracking the vessels, which are 320 miles east of Tasmania but came within 150 miles of Sydney last week. The Australian Defence Force said the formation consisted of a frigate, a cruiser and a replenishment vessel, and had been travelling down the coast of Australia since mid-February. The ships have not crossed into Canberra's territorial waters – 12 nautical miles from the coastline – but are inside Australia's exclusive economic zone. Wellington and Canberra both said the live fire actions happened at much shorter notice than would be expected. 'They're not telling us what they're planning,' Ms Collins said on Monday. 'We're taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they're not breaking the law. 'But as we've said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing.' After Australia's prime minister said it would have been 'appropriate to have given more warning', a spokesman at China's defence ministry claimed Canberra had 'deliberately hyped it up' with an account that was 'completely inconsistent with the facts'. Ms Collins said the latest war exercises were a sharp demonstration that New Zealand needed to 'clearly step up our game'. 'I think we should be very aware that we live in a world of increasing geopolitical competition, that the seabed of the Pacific Ocean is viewed by some countries as an area of enormous resource.' 'We have to be aware that we are in a situation … in the Indo-Pacific region, of sitting on an enormous treasury with a very small lock to protect it.' Though Australia and New Zealand are dependent on Chinese trade, they are at odds on strategic issues including the South China Sea, Chinese influence in the South Pacific and the Taiwan Strait. Analysts said the latest war exercises, conducted some 6,000 miles from China, were 'very unusual'. 'This is a very unusual demonstration of force so far from China's mainland, without clear messaging from China about its intentions towards New Zealand and Australia,' Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Bloomberg. '[It] disrupted civil aviation and raises serious doubts about the credibility of Beijing 's rhetoric and assertion that it is not a threat to the peace and stability of the entire Pacific.' China is increasingly projecting its military power in the Indo-Pacific region, where it has been courting strategic new partners and potentially lucrative resources. The Cook Islands, which operates in 'free association' with Wellington and whose citizens hold New Zealand passports, struck a controversial 'strategic partnership' deal with Beijing earlier this month. It does not include defence, but instead centres on economic, infrastructure and maritime, and seabed mineral development. New Zealand said it was not consulted on the deal, and warned that it could have 'significant security implications' for the region. Winston Peters, New Zealand's foreign minister, said he would raise the country's concerns during a three-day trip to China set to begin on Tuesday.
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Extremely capable' weapons on Chinese warships off Australia's east coast, NZ government says
New Zealand's defence minister has warned that Chinese warships located off the east coast of Australia are armed with 'extremely capable' weapons that could reach Australia. The three vessels, known as Taskgroup 107, undertook two live-fire exercises in the seas between Australia and New Zealand last week, causing commercial flights to be diverted in the skies above. Judith Collins, the defence minister of New Zealand, said on Monday that the ships were currently 280 nautical miles (518km) east of Tasmania and were being closely monitored by New Zealand navy vessel Te Kaha. Collins said the presence of the vessels in waters off New Zealand and Australia, and the short warning given by the Chinese government before the live-fire exercise on Friday was 'unusual'. 'We've certainly never seen a task group of this capability undertaking this sort of work, it's certainly a change,' she told RNZ Radio. '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,' she said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Collins said the information she had was that the vessels were not nuclear-powered and did not have nuclear weapons, or missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, onboard. 'They're not telling us what they're planning,' Collins told RNZ. 'We're taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they're not breaking the law. 'But as we've said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing.' The Chinese navy notified the Australian defence department shortly before the drill on Friday. Collins told RNZ that assertions by China's ambassador to New Zealand that appropriate advance notice of the drills had been given were 'wrong'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'There was a warning to civil aviation flights, that was basically a very short amount of notice, rather than what we would consider best practice which is 12-24 hours notice, so that aircraft don't have to be diverted when they're on the wing.' On Friday, the first live-fire exercise was observed by a New Zealand navy vessel. It involved the ships changing formation and placing a target in the water, manoeuvring again, and then recovering the target. No live fire was observed, but the change in formation was consistent with a live-fire drill. On Saturday, New Zealand navy personnel advised live rounds were fired from a Chinese warship in international waters. Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on the weekend that senior defence officials were continuing to monitor the ships after they were first spotted moving south in international waters about 280km off Sydney on Thursday. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, met with her Chinese counterpart and demanded to know why the vessels only offered limited notice before the firing was carried out. China's actions are believed to have complied with international law and the Australian Defence Force advised there was no imminent threat to its assets or those of New Zealand.
