02/21/2025

Flights Diverted off Australian Coast as Chinese Navy Conducts ‘Show of Force’

China's naval exercises have sparked alarm in Australia and New Zealand

Commercial flights were diverted between Australia and New Zealand on Friday, officials and airlines said, amid fears that Chinese naval vessels were conducting live-fire military drills in an incident some security experts called a “show of force” unusually far from China’s shores.

The Chinese naval exercises, in international waters off Australia’s eastern coast, are legal, but they nonetheless sparked expressions of alarm from officials in Australia and New Zealand.

"It's a wake-up call," New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins said in an interview with Radio New Zealand’s “Morning Report” on Thursday. She said the Chinese exercises were legal but "unusual" and involved "the most significant and sophisticated [vessels] that we have seen this far south."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.