China dismisses Australia's complaints about Beijing's naval exercises
China considers the accusations unjustified (photo: Getty Images)
The People's Republic of China has conducted naval exercises with live firing. Australia complained that this forced airlines to change flight routes, but Beijing denied any impact on security, Reuters reports.
According to the agency, on Sunday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said that Australia's complaints about the recent live-fire naval exercises in international waters between Australia and New Zealand were "overblown" and "not true."
A day earlier, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said that Beijing had failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for what he called insufficient notification of the live-fire drills a day earlier. According to him, this led to the fact that airlines were forced to change flight routes.
In a statement by the Chinese Defense Ministry, Qian said that Beijing had repeatedly issued safety notices in advance and that its actions were in line with international law and did not affect aviation safety.
"Australia, knowing full well that this is the case, has made unfounded accusations against China and deliberately inflated the situation. We are deeply surprised and extremely dissatisfied," Qian said in his post.
New Zealand said yesterday that it also observed the Chinese navy conducting live-fire exercises for a second day and that it was monitoring the Chinese fleet of vessels.
