A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon aircraft flying on sanctions enforcement operations against North Korea has been accused of harassment by China.
China has accused a New Zealand Air Force plane of harassment in a stinging attack by its defence spokesman.
The plane was monitoring shipping near North Korea as part of a multinational sanctions enforcement team linked to the pariah state’s nuclear programme.
The NZ P-8A Poseidon aircraft was singled out by China’s Ministry of National Defence spokesman Zhang Xiaogang at a press conference in Beijing yesterday, according to local media.
“A P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the New Zealand air force has conducted frequent close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace and waters of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea,” Zhang said, according to Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper.
The article quoted Zhang urging New Zealand to “exercise strict restraint” and “immediately stop irresponsible and disruptive acts”.
The Chinese military gave warnings to the plane and lodged “stern representations with the New Zealand side”, he said.
New Zealand’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence have both been approached for comment.
The NZ Defence Force told the Herald its P-8A Poseidon had been “undertaking activities that monitor North Korean sanctions evasions at sea in North Asia under UN Security Council resolutions.
“New Zealand has contributed to UN sanctions monitoring since 2018,” a spokesperson said.
“These activities are not directed at China but rather aim to monitor evasions of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, which do occur in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.”
The mission, known as the Pacific Security Maritime Exchange, is a multinational coalition aimed at disrupting sanction-busting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum and other goods going from or to North Korea, according to the US State Department.
Zhang also accused the New Zealand aircraft of endangering his country’s civilian flights.
“Such acts by New Zealand undermine China’s sovereignty and security, severely disrupt flight order in relevant airspace, and may easily trigger maritime and aerial incidents,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defence spokesman said.
The NZDF said its crew operated professionally and in accordance with international law and civil aviation procedures.
“NZDF has reviewed the routes flown and all available information. We have no data which indicates they disrupted civil aviation,” the NZDF spokesman said.
He said New Zealand had talked to China about the matter.
“As part of this, there has been dialogue between New Zealand and Chinese officials, and we have made it clear that this is a long-standing deployment enforcing UN-mandated sanctions on North Korea.”
Dr John Battersby, senior fellow defence and security studies at Massey University, told the Herald China had overreacted.
“New Zealand does not have any combat wing and the Poseidons are not armed, so really to say that we are involved in harassment of any sort, I think is an overstatement.”
Battersby said New Zealand rubs China the wrong way occasionally and this could be one of those times.
“There are various causes of tension in the Pacific. Aid, policing assistance, the Cook Islands agreement, and they look at us as being a small country that should be more deferential to what the Chinese expect and when we’re not, they’re going to let us know. I think that’s probably what this is.
“I think it’s more rhetoric than substance. Just a little reminder. I think we have a very transactional relationship with China” he said.
The dispute comes two weeks after a separate spat between New Zealand and regional friend Cook Islands over China appeared to come to an end.
On April 2, New Zealand signed a defence and security declaration with the Cook Islands.
The pact was only agreed after a year of negotiations between the two countries.
New Zealand had been put on alert by the Cook Islands when it signed a strategic deal with China in February 2025.
The Cook Islands signed the deal without disclosing its contents to New Zealand.
At the time, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters criticised the lack of transparency and consultation, given New Zealand’s close and long-standing relationship to the Cook Islands as a self-governing realm country.
Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens and hold Kiwi passports, and New Zealand has committed to assisting the Cook Islands with defence and foreign affairs issues.
Amid the disagreement, the New Zealand Government paused about $30 million in annual funding to the Cook Islands last June.
Since then, negotiating teams have worked on the relationship, to the point where the security pact with New Zealand was signed in the Cook Islands on April 2.
Peters said at the time he hoped the “unnecessary anxiety” between the two nations had passed.
He said it was “vital” that New Zealand and the Cook Islands are clear with one another and third parties about the nature of their relationship.
“Now that we have achieved clarity about the nature of our relationship, the Cook Islands-New Zealand partnership will return swiftly to previous good health,” he said.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said his state would keep working with countries including China but with greater communication when appropriate.
“A Cook Islands that is deeply connected, well-resourced and confident, confident in its place amongst nations, is a stronger and more capable partner for New Zealand,” Brown said.
“We will continue to build partnerships wherever they serve our national interest, in full transparency with our partners and with our values as our guide.”
The agreement states New Zealand is committed to remaining the primary defence and security partner of the Cook Islands, and will continue to do so in national security, policing, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
In response to the agreement, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told AP in early April that China “will continue to deepen pragmatic co-operation with the Cook Islands”.
“The China-Cook Islands relationship doesn’t target any third party, nor should it be disrupted or constrained by any third party.”