New Zealand's Defence Minister Judith Collins has warned that the Chinese naval task group conducting military exercises in the Tasman Sea is "extremely capable", with one of the warships carrying ballistic missiles with a range of about 1,000 kilometres.
It comes after China's Ministry of Defence accused Australia and New Zealand of "hyping" their response to two separate live fire drills conducted by the ships on Friday and Saturday, which forced commercial airlines to divert flights.
Wu Qian, a defence ministry spokesperson, insisted that China's actions were "in full compliance with international law and international practices" and took aim at Canberra.
"Australia, knowing this well, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up," he said.
"We are deeply surprised and strongly dissatisfied with this."
But Ms Collins rejected that claim on Monday, reiterating that China should ideally have given 24-48 hours notice before the flotilla — which consists of the naval frigate Hengyang, cruiser Zunyi and replenishment vessel Weishanhu — commenced firing.
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She said the Chinese warships also had substantial firepower, and were a reminder why New Zealand had to urgently bolster defence spending as strategic tensions escalate in the region.
"The weapons they have are extremely capable. One has 112 vertical launch cells and has reported anti-ship ballistic missile range of 540 nautical miles," she told Radio New Zealand.
Ms Collins said China had so far ignored requests from New Zealand for more information, and had not communicated where the flotilla would go next — but the ships were still being closely tracked.
"We're taking them at face value that they are undertaking normal transits when it comes to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, that they're not breaking the law. But as we've said, it is always better to give a lot more notice when it comes to live firing," she said.
"These ships are currently around 280 nautical miles east of Tasmania, so the ships have slightly changed their formation but of course we are monitoring it and our [ship] Te Kaha has been out there basically monitoring and doing what you'd expect us to be doing."
New Zealand's military has been beset by budget shortfalls and serious mishaps — including when its specialist hydrographic vessel Manawanui ran aground off Samoa last year.
Ms Collins said the Chinese naval exercises were a sharp reminder that distance no longer protected New Zealand and there was an urgent need for the government to bolster defence spending.
"We need to clearly step up our game," she said.
"We need to do more, and we certainly need to spend a lot more to get ourselves back out of the ICU and into the ward."
China's power projection message
Analysts say China is using the exercise to send a clear message to the US, Australia and New Zealand that it has the capability and willingness to project power deep into the South Pacific.
Ms Collins suggested China's actions might also be linked to its appetite for seabed minerals — linking it to a contentious deal on deep sea mining which Beijing inked earlier this month with the Cook Islands.
"I think we should be very aware that we live in a world of increasing geopolitical competition, that the seabed of the Pacific Ocean is viewed by some countries as an area of enormous resource, and that you can see it with the Cook Islands and China agreements that clearly, seabed mining is a major priority for some countries," she said.
"We have to be aware that we are in a situation — as I've said at the Munich Security Conference — in the Indo-Pacific region of sitting on an enormous treasury with a very small lock to protect it."
