New Zealand defends military patrol flight near China

NZ says aircraft acted lawfully as China slams Yellow Sea patrol as 'harassment'

New Zealand on Saturday defended the actions of a military patrol aircraft flight near China after Beijing said it had undermined its security interests.

China's foreign ministry said on Friday that a New Zealand P-8A patrol aircraft had “conducted continuous close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace and waters of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea”.

"The action undermined China's security interests, increased risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and gravely disrupted the order of civil aviation," spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, according to an official transcript.

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Responding to the claim, the New Zealand Defence Force said a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft "has been undertaking activities that monitor North Korean sanctions evasions at sea in North Asia under UN Security Council resolutions".

"The New Zealand Defence Force crew operated professionally and in accordance with international law and civil aviation procedures for the region," it said in a statement. "We have made it clear that this is a longstanding deployment enforcing UN-mandated sanctions on North Korea."

Relations between the two countries became strained in February last year after Chinese navy vessels conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea close to New Zealand. In June, the nations' leaders met in New Zealand, where they discussed the role of trade in boosting ties.