Tan Suo Yi Hao, a research vessel that berthed in Bluff on February 20 and then left the port late the next day, was en route to the Puysegur Trench, which is south of Fiordland, as part of a research project by Chinese and New Zealand organisations. An official ceremony took place at the Bluff port for the research project before heading off.
The ship sails under the flag of China and is 94.45m long and 18m wide.
The vessel undertook deep sea exploration of marine biodiversity in the trench, a 800km-long deep cleft in the floor of the south Tasman Sea, formed by the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Pacific Plate. The trench can be up to 6.3km deep.
Niwa worked with the Chinese Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering to conduct deep dives with the ship’s submersibles. Scientists from Denmark, Germany, France, Malaysia and India were also on board.
A Niwa spokesman said in February before they left to head south the scientific work was part of an ongoing collaboration which provided New Zealand with scientific access to specialist equipment which allowed deep diving with manned/unmanned submersibles which could go down 4500m-10,000m.
Niwa has two researchers on board each leg of the voyage.
The ship was heading away from the trench and is now just off the southwest coast of Victoria in Australia.
But fresh from a Chinese cruiser, frigate and replenishment ship being in the Tasman Sea in February, Australian politicians are not laying out the welcome mat.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he "would prefer" a Chinese research vessel was not sitting off the coast of Victoria and stressed it would be closely monitored by the Australian defence force.
It had travelled west after a port call in Wellington.
"It’s been in New Zealand on a joint research operation and this isn’t the first time that a similar vessel has been around the Australian coast. It occurred in 2020, just to give one example. Australia, as you would expect, is monitoring this," The Guardian reported Mr Albanese saying on Monday.
Mr Albanese said Australian authorities would track the movements of Tan Suo Yi Hao and said "we won’t — for obvious reasons — broadcast everything that we’re doing".
"But we’re keeping an eye on this," he said.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the vessel was being closely monitored.
It was not breaking any laws.
The ship is expected to be back in China by the end of this month.
