Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles stated that Chinese warships reportedly conducted live-fire exercises in airspace near the Australian coast, but China has yet to provide a "satisfactory" response. While it has not yet been confirmed whether the shooting actually occurred, Marles pointed out that commercial pilots received notices of live-fire activities at short notice.
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02-22, 2025Marles emphasized that despite the short notice, it is important to remember that China has not violated international law. The Australian government has raised the issue with the Chinese government, but China has not explained why it failed to provide advance notice of the live-fire exercises. He stated that the Australian side is concerned about this situation.
Marles revealed that Australia has raised the matter with the Chinese government in both Canberra and Beijing, and the Foreign Minister has also raised it with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "I don't think we've had a satisfactory answer from China about the notification issue, and we would much prefer more notice be provided in advance, so we don't end up in the unsettling situation that we found ourselves in yesterday."
Marles stated that, typically, if the Royal Australian Navy conducts live-fire exercises in international waters, it provides 12 to 24 hours' notice in advance. He also said that he has ensured the use of "unprecedented" resources to monitor these warships in order to understand the operations of the Chinese task force.
Marles added, "We are seeing this task force undertake what is an unusual mission... what we have done is taken unprecedented surveillance measures in relation to it." He emphasized, "They haven't violated international law, and we haven't violated international law in taking the surveillance measures that we have."
