The Prime Minister's playing down the significance of his plans to send Navy vessels into the South China Sea

As part of a new partnership agreement with Vietnam, Chris Luxon said he's exploring the possibility of sending a ship into Vietnamese ports.

Although this comes amid Chinese war ships' unexplained ventures in the Tasman Sea -- Luxon says this is not a tit-for-tat type of response.

He says this is just part of a normal routine engagement that we have with countries across the region -- part of a friendship visit.