JAKARTA - China's unprecedented shooting drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand are confirmed in line with international law.
The Chinese Navy's spokesman for the defense ministry, Wu Qian, said following concerns voiced that Australian-New Zealand officials did not receive adequate information about exercises in international waters.
"We have noticed Australia and New Zealand repeatedly saying China's PLA operations are in line with international law, we think this shows no problem," Wu said.
He did not directly answer questions about whether exercises in the Tasman Sea could be done more, or whether Australia and New Zealand would get more timely information in the future.
New Zealand's foreign minister Winston Peters touched on the matter in a meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing this week.
He said inadequate notification was a failure that would be corrected in the future.
Reports in Chinese state media this week confirmed the presence of three Type 055 destroyers, Type 054 frigates, and a recharging ship in the Tasman Sea.
To what extent the drills are unknown, but the state-backed Global Times newspaper contains images of the Type 055 stealth destroyer, which the Western military considers China's most advanced naval vessels, firing its deck weapon.
It is not yet known whether the ship tested its cruise missile payload that could strike its sea and ground targets or torpedoes.
The military attache and security analysts are closely observing the deployment, given China's unprecedented training properties in the Tasman Sea and the importance of eight Type 055 aircraft for improving China's naval capabilities in blue waters.
The three Chinese ships are south of Tasmania in Australia's exclusive economic zone and are now moving west, the New Zealand Defense Force said on Wednesday.
Several online tracers detected a Chinese task force of 160 nautical miles to the east of Hobart, or in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
EEZs are considered international waters and foreign military ships have the right to operate in them.
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