Chinese Warships Monitored by Australia and New Zealand

The Australian and New Zealand militaries are closely monitoring three Chinese warships traveling far south along Australia's east coast on an unexplained mission. The ships—Hengyang, Zunyi, and Weishanhu—are being tracked closely by Australian navy and air force in international waters within Australia's exclusive economic zone. The warships are about 150 nautical miles east of Sydney.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles noted this situation is unusual but not unprecedented. Marles said: "They're entitled to be where they are; Australia is also entitled to be prudent and we are monitoring very closely what the activities of the task group are." He emphasized Australia's right to monitor the warships' activities.

New Zealand's military, working closely with Australia, is also engaged in monitoring, as confirmed by New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins. Collins said: "We have not been informed by the Chinese government why this task group has been deployed into our region, and we have not been informed what its future plans are." (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)