Defence Minister Judith Collins warns Chinese ships in Tasman have ‘enormous strike power’

Defence Minister Judith Collins is concerned Chinese ships were near Australia, in the Tasman Sea. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Defence Minister Judith Collins vented frustration at the Chinese Government for not informing New Zealand that it would be sending a “highly capable” strike force with “enormous strike power” down the east coast of Australia.

The strike force, comprised of three ships, came as close as 150 nautical miles – 278km – from the coast of Sydney, according to the Financial Times.

Collins said the Chinese Government and Chinese Embassy had given New Zealand no notice that it would be sending the strike force into the region.

“They have not deigned to advise us on what they are doing in the middle of the Tasman Sea,” Collins said.

She added that China had only given New Zealand 24 hours warning it would fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean last year.

“Given we were I think one of the very few countries that got basically 24 hours' notice of the intercontinental ballistic missile that was shot across from China into the nuclear-free zone of the Pacific, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get notice,” Collins said.

Collins added that she did not want this lack of communication to become the “new normal”.

“It is always important that we keep dialogue going and it is certainly not something we would expect from China previously, but ever since the ICBM was launched, I’m sorry to say things are more tense,” Collins said.

She reiterated remarks she has made since becoming minister that New Zealand no longer exists in a “benign strategic environment” - a phrase once used by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The Australian Defence Force said in a statement on Wednesday night it was monitoring three ships,” the People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser named Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu”.

Collins confirmed NZ Defence Force assets were working with Australian counterparts to monitor the ships.

“They’ll be doing surveillance,” Collins said.

The NZDF told the Herald these assets included using the Anzac-class frigate HMNZS Te Kaha and P-8 Poseidon planes.

Collins said that while the ships were exercising their rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, she had been told the voyage was “significant” because it was “the first time that this sort of capability of Chinese warship with that sort of capability has come this far south”.

Collins did not know whether the ships were nuclear-powered but said they were “hugely capable”.

Last September, New Zealand exercised its rights under the Law of the Sea to sail a military ship through the Taiwan Strait, an act China can find provocative.

At the time, Collins said the HMNZS Aotearoa’‘s passage through the strait with an Australian vessel HMAS Sydney, was a “routine activity, consistent with international law, including the right of freedom of navigation as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”.

The ship was shadowed by a Chinese vessel for part of that mission.

The Chinese Embassy has been approached for comment.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.