Diplomatic war of words as China accuses Australia of ‘deliberately hyping up’ live fire incident off the coast of Sydney
The Chinese government has ramped up its war of words with Australia with accusations of ‘hyping up’ tensions over live firing exercises in the waters between Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand confirmed the second day of exercises in the Tasman Sea on Saturday after a Chinese warship was seen firing a gun.
It came after three vessels of the People’s Liberation Army Navy conducted drills about 630km off Eden, NSW in recent days.
Qantas, Emirates, Virgin and Air New Zealand modified flight paths between Australia and New Zealand after receiving initial reports of live firing on Friday.
China’s defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian hit back on Sunday to say that its fleet’s training and exercise area is far away from the Australian coastline.
‘China‘s actions are in full compliance with international law and international practices and will not affect aviation flight safety,’ he said.
‘Australia, knowing this well, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up. We are deeply surprised and strongly dissatisfied with this.
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