The New Zealand Government says it granted consent for a Chinese research vessel to undertake joint marine research in New Zealand waters – the same one the Australian Prime Minister said he would prefer not to have in his country’s waters.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters earlier this week he’d “prefer” if the vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao stayed out of Australian territory.
But he suggested the ship had not broken international laws.
“Our task is to make sure that we represent Australia’s national interests... and I have every confidence in our Defence Force and our security agencies to do just that,” he told ABC.
Niwa said researchers from eight different countries were aboard the RV Tan Suo Yi Hao for its two-month research voyage, including two Niwa scientists on each month-long leg.
Tan Suo Yi Hao, a Chinese research ship. Photo / Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering
It was the second joint collaboration with New Zealand exploring the marine biodiversity at ocean depths with its deep-sea submersible, Fen Dou Zhe, Niwa said in a statement.
The expedition went to the Puysegur Trench and lasted 56 days, from January 25 to March 21, involving scientists from China, New Zealand, Malaysia, Denmark, Germany, France, Brazil and India.
Quoting Australian Government officials, ABC said the vessel was now believed to be returning to China.
It comes a month after New Zealand and Australia said they had no advance notice of Chinese military vessels conducting live firing drills off the coast of Sydney.
An Australian Parliamentary hearing discovered a commercial airline pilot was the first to alert Australian and NZ authorities to the exercises in February.
In a statement, an NZDF spokesperson said it was aware of the location and movements of the vessel, as NZDF “maintains maritime domain awareness of ships in our region”.
They confirmed the ship had requested to undertake marine scientific research in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said “following engagement with New Zealand officials and in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, consent was provided”.
“Chinese Research Vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao requested consent to undertake marine scientific research in New Zealand’s EEZ between January to March 2025,” MFAT said in a statement.
Under the UN convention, “all vessels enjoy freedom of navigation through the EEZ, and all states have an obligation to promote and facilitate marine scientific research”, it said.
“New Zealand and Australia confer regularly on foreign vessels operating within our EEZs”, MFAT said, without going into detail about the Tan Suo Yi Hao.
“The scientific work is part of a collaboration providing New Zealand scientists access to specialist equipment – the HOV Fen Dou Zhe is the only research-focused submersible in the world currently able to dive to the deepest parts of the oceans,” Niwa said.
The submersible took researchers 6km below the surface to the bottom of the trench for the first time and, despite “extremely hard” sea conditions, the expedition team completed 32 dives, Niwa said.
