OPINION_ China’s Latest Live Fire Drills Alarm Australia and New Zealand

THE EPOCH TIMES

China’s Latest Live Fire Drills Alarm Australia and New Zealand

The United States and allies should nip the Chinese regime’s naval exercises in the bud.

The type 052D guided missile destroyer Taiyuan of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy participates in a naval parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of China's PLA Navy in the sea near Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong Province, on April 23, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

By Anders Corr
2/24/2025 Updated: 2/24/2025

Commentary

Three of China’s naval ships sailed near Papua New Guinea and then as close as 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, Australia.

On Feb. 21, they warned three civilian planes over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand of impending live fire drills. This forced the New Zealand-bound planes to reroute after they had already departed Australia. The airlines included Qantas, Virgin, and Emirates.

The lack of advance notice created umbrage in Canberra and Wellington. Beijing subsequently declined to explain itself. Aussie and Kiwi officials heard about the drills from the civilian planes. Not very professional.

But dangerous brinkmanship is the modus operandi of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

In mid-February, a Chinese J-16 fighter harassed an Australian P-8 Poseidon surveillance jet over the South China Sea by releasing flares within 30 meters (100 feet) of the plane. The flares got close enough that they could have destroyed the Aussie plane’s engines and forced it down. If it had landed on the Paracel Islands or Hainan, for example, as a U.S. EP-3 signals intelligence (SIGINT) plane was forced to do in 2001, it would have handed an intelligence bonanza to the PLA. After Canberra complained, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman merely brushed off the criticisms.

A similar incident occurred over the Yellow Sea in May 2024.

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READ MORE: https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/chinas-latest-live-fire-drills-alarm-australia-and-new-zealand-5815161?ea_src=frontpage&ea_cnt=a&ea_med=opinion-6

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