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Speaker 1: We learned this week that a New Zealand Navy vessel

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Speaker 1: was followed around by no less than seven Chinese warships

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Speaker 1: while patrolling in waters through Asia. The HGM men's it

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Speaker 1: is ALTAUA had crossed through the Taiwan Strait was patrolling

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Speaker 1: international waters this to try and curb North Korean war programs.

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Speaker 1: Commodore Shane ardnil is the Royal New Zealand Navy's Maritime

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Speaker 1: Component Commander and joins me. Now, welcome to the show.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: So were you expecting Chinese company?

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Speaker 2: Yes, indeed we planned for it to happen because it's

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Speaker 2: a common occurrence up on that part of the world.

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Speaker 2: Everyone's just watching what each nation does, and when we're

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Speaker 2: going through the acclaimed orders, they like to make sure

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Speaker 2: they know what everyone's doing in their patch of order.

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Speaker 1: Were you in the Taiwan Strait.

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Speaker 2: The ship didn't go through the Taiwan straight Yes, how

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Speaker 2: often do you do that? So we did that on

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Speaker 2: a regular basis, and it's all part of our efforts

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Speaker 2: to uphold the international walls based system, which means that's

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Speaker 2: international waters. So we have every right just as anybody

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Speaker 2: else does, to transit through that piece of water.

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Speaker 1: What sort of ships did they have, What sort of

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Speaker 1: capability did they have?

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Speaker 2: Oh, pretty much the same as what we have frigates

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Speaker 2: and tankers. So whatever ships available, they will normally what

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Speaker 2: we would say, they will hand over between ships. So

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Speaker 2: even though the number says seven, that's pretty normal because

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Speaker 2: when you look at archie at I having covered four

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Speaker 2: hundred and ten thousand square kilometers, that's a lot of

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Speaker 2: water for one ship to cover alone. So the Chinese

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Speaker 2: would have just been handing over between ships to track

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Speaker 2: her as she was in that part of the world.

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Speaker 1: Do you communicate with them at all?

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Speaker 2: Here? We do just on normal open radio over a

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Speaker 2: VHF circuit. We communicate. We let each other know what

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Speaker 2: we're doing, so we keep it all nice and safe

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Speaker 2: and everything is respectful between both ships that may be

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Speaker 2: talking to each other.

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Speaker 1: When they first contact you, what are they saying?

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Speaker 2: Oh, they ask us what are we doing? The fact

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Speaker 2: that we're inside Chinese claimed waters, and then we just

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Speaker 2: respond with the usual witches around. It's open water and

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Speaker 2: we have a right to freedom of passage and we're

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Speaker 2: just exercising those rights.

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Speaker 1: Do you see this area of the world escalating or

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Speaker 1: reaching some sort of boiling point. What are you seeing

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Speaker 1: out there?

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Speaker 2: Definitely what we're seeing is in line with what you

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Speaker 2: read in the media. Things aren't as comfortable as they

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Speaker 2: used to be. So there is a hot and alert

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Speaker 2: I suppose for the ships traveling up there, so we're

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Speaker 2: more aware of what's going on around us. Then we're

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Speaker 2: keeping ourselves better informed, just so we don't get any

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Speaker 2: cases of miscalculation and we're respecting each other's barriers and boundaries.

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Speaker 1: Have you had any close calls on miss calculation.

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Speaker 2: No, not at all, not at all. Everything we've done

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Speaker 2: has been a safe and professional.

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Speaker 1: Are you guys friendly when you chat?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, Mariners of the Sea. English is a common language,

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Speaker 2: so we do can municate and there's certainly that The

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Speaker 2: tone of it is, you know, being friendly and making

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Speaker 2: sure that they are understanding what we're saying and there's

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Speaker 2: no confusion.

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Speaker 1: You're there. I mean the UN the Security Council sanctions

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Speaker 1: against North Korea enforcing those. Have you had any success

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Speaker 1: in that on that front of late.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so I said I was last mission. She managed

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Speaker 2: to intercept to illegal transhipment of elicted cargo. There's not

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Speaker 2: a whole lot we can do up there. But what

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Speaker 2: we can do is we can announce out there that

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Speaker 2: what these ships are doing is against U N. Security

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Speaker 2: Council resolutions and that they're breaking the law, and basically

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Speaker 2: that they are being monitored and we are reporting those

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Speaker 2: illegal transhipment of ellictic cargo to and from the DPRK.

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Speaker 1: But nothing actually happens to them. They just carry on

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Speaker 1: their way.

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Speaker 2: There has been a couple of cases where they have

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Speaker 2: been incepted and some of those ships have been deregistered,

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Speaker 2: but as you know, there's quite a dark fleet out there,

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Speaker 2: so you know, tracking down ownership of those and people

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Speaker 2: actually owning up to that illegal activity is quite hard.

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Speaker 1: What's in them? Is it oil or do you not know?

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Speaker 2: Now? A majority of it it's oil, and it's sort

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Speaker 2: of coming from It's coming from all parts of the world, actually,

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Speaker 2: but it's normally it's out of Russia or coming in

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Speaker 2: through out of the Indian Ocean and around that part

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Speaker 2: of the world.

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Speaker 1: Commodore, I'm fascinated by this area of the world. I

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Speaker 1: spent time living in Beijing and we talk about it

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Speaker 1: a lot on the show. What's it like to actually

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Speaker 1: be there?

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Speaker 2: You know, what Ryn is pretty much like what you've

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Speaker 2: probably experienced. You know, we make them out to be

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Speaker 2: all big, bad people, but actually it's a friendly country

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Speaker 2: when you're there, and we do and we have in

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Speaker 2: the past, done port visits. I've been there myself. It's

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Speaker 2: a great experience and the people are very friendly.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like we're going to go to war anytime soon?

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Speaker 2: Well, I hope not. You know what, no one wants

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Speaker 2: more and we try to do everything to minimize the risk.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely a commodore. Really appreciate your time tonight. Thank your commodore,

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Speaker 1: Shane Mdel, who's with us from the Navy. For more

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