New Zealand's foreign minister raises concerns over China's Tasman Sea drills on Beijing visit

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) - New Zealand's foreign minister said he had raised concerns over China's recent live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea during meetings with Chinese leaders on Wednesday.

The issue was a lack of notice given to New Zealand over the military exercises off its coast, Winston Peters told reporters in Beijing after meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng.

"This is a failure in (our special relationship) at this time, and we'd like to have it corrected into the future," he said.

In their meeting, Wang told Peters both countries should become partners of mutual trust and resolve "some specific differences" through dialogue, according to a readout from China's foreign ministry.

Peters is in Beijing for a three-day visit after relations between the two countries became strained over the drills.

New Zealand and Australian officials said that China had conducted live-fire exercises in international waters between the two nations, giving little notice and forcing commercial airlines to divert flights.

The three Chinese ships were south of Tasmania in Australia's exclusive economic zone and were now moving west, the New Zealand Defence Force said Wednesday.

Peters said he also raised China's missile launch test last September that landed near French Polynesia's exclusive economic zone, of which "most Pacific Island nations got no warning at all" and New Zealand got "little warning."

China was considering the issue of providing earlier notice for future naval drills, he said.

COOK ISLANDS DEALS

Peters has also voiced concerns that the Cook Islands, an independent country in free association with New Zealand, had signed a comprehensive strategic partnership and other agreements with China, without satisfactorily consulting with New Zealand.

China "needs to understand the constitutional arrangement" between New Zealand and the Cook Islands, Peters told reporters, adding that New Zealand got more information out of China on the deals than it got out of the Cook Islands.

Peters said last week his country must "reset" its relationship with its Pacific neighbour after its opaque dealings with Beijing.

The agreement spans education, the economy, infrastructure, fisheries, disaster management and seabed mining. It set off alarm bells in New Zealand due to concerns over China's growing presence in the Pacific region and potential threats to the country's national security.

Wang said that China respects the traditional relations between New Zealand and the Pacific island countries.

The Cook Islands is a self-governing nation and maintains free association with Wellington, sharing a head of state and citizenship rights. It is permitted an independent foreign policy, but the two countries are required to consult on security, defence and foreign policy issues.

The two diplomats also discussed trade and economic issues during Wednesday's meeting, with Wang calling for cooperation on new growth engines such as artificial intelligence and green economy.

About a quarter of all New Zealand exports went to China in 2024.

(This story has been corrected to fix the title of Han Zheng to Vice President, not Vice Premier, in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Writing by Shi Bu and Ethan Wang; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ros Russell and Christina Fincher)