Australia and New Zealand are monitoring the “unusual” presence of a group of Chinese naval vessels spotted in international waters off the Australian eastern coast, defence ministers of the two countries said.

Three Chinese navy vessels – a frigate, a cruiser and a supply tanker – were spotted last week in waters off mainland Australia.

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The warships have since charted a course taking them down Australia’s eastern coast and were reported to be located 150 nautical miles (278km) east of Sydney.

“We are keeping a close watch on them, and we will make sure we are watching every move,” Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a television interview.

“It’s not unprecedented. But it is an unusual event,” Marles said, stressing the vessels were “not a threat” and that they were “engaging in accordance with international law”.

“And just as they have a right to be in international waters, which is what they are doing, we have a right to be prudent and to make sure that we are surveilling them, which is what we are doing,” he added.

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New Zealand’s Defence Minister Judith Collins told Radio New Zealand her country’s defence forces were also monitoring the Chinese ships.

“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,” Collins said.

“We will continue to monitor these vessels,” she said.

China’s People’s Liberation Army-Navy’s Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang travels in the Torres Strait off Australia’s coast, on February 11, 2025 [Australian Defence Force via AP]

The appearance of the vessels comes after Australia and China traded barbs over an incident last week between a Chinese fighter jet and an Australian military plane.

Canberra rebuked Beijing for “unsafe” military conduct, accusing the Chinese jet of dropping flares near an Australian air force plane patrolling the South China Sea. Beijing swiftly hit back, accusing the Australian plane of “violating Chinese sovereignty and endangering Chinese national security”.

The incident was the latest in a string of tense encounters between China and Australia in the increasingly contested airspace and shipping lanes of the Asia Pacific region.

A Chinese jet was accused of intercepting an Australian Seahawk helicopter in international airspace in 2024, dropping flares across its flight path.

In 2023, a Chinese destroyer was accused of bombarding submerged Australian navy divers with sonar pulses in waters off Japan, causing minor injuries.

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