China complains of ‘harassment’ from New Zealand aerial patrols close to coastline

China has lodged a protest with New Zealand about the activities of a military aircraft near its coast, suggesting it had put commercial airlines at risk.Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Friday that a P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft had “conducted continuous close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace and waters of the Yellow Sea and China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="19685" data-entity-type="location">East China Sea”.He said such actions undermined China’s security interests, heightened the risks of misunderstandings and miscalculations and severely disrupted civil aviation operations.“China urges New Zealand to strictly abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations, respect China’s sovereignty and security concerns, and safeguard the safety and order of civil aviation,” Guo said.It was the first public comment about the patrol and New Zealand has yet to respond to the accusations.However, last month Japan said a New Zealand P-8A stationed at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa would be monitoring illicit maritime activities – including ship-to-ship transfers involving North Korean-flagged vessels that may breach United Nations sanctions – between mid-March and mid-April.It is the ninth time New Zealand has carried out such patrols since 2018, although it is not known if the plane China complained about was involved in the mission.