New Zealand defends military patrol flight near China

(Reuters)

April 18- New Zealand on Saturday defended the actions of a military patrol aircraft flight near China ​after Beijing said it had undermined its security ‌interests.

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that a New Zealand P-8A patrol aircraft had “conducted continuous close-in reconnaissance and harassment ​in the airspace and waters of the Yellow ​Sea and East China Sea”.

“The action undermined ⁠China’s security interests, increased risks of misunderstanding and ​miscalculation, and gravely disrupted the order of civil aviation,” ​spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, according to an official transcript.

Responding to the claim, the New Zealand Defence Force said a Royal New ​Zealand Air Force aircraft “has been undertaking activities that ​monitor North Korean sanctions evasions at sea in North Asia under ‌UN ⁠Security Council resolutions”.

“The New Zealand Defence Force crew operated professionally and in accordance with international law and civil aviation procedures for the region,” it said ​in a statement. “We ​have made ⁠it clear that this is a longstanding deployment enforcing UN-mandated sanctions on North ​Korea.”

Relations between the two countries became strained in ​February ⁠last year after Chinese navy vessels conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea close to New Zealand. ⁠In June, ​the nations’ leaders met in ​New Zealand where they discussed the role of trade in boosting ties.