China has accused Australia of “causing trouble” after its military revealed a diver was injured by Chinese sonar blasts near an Australian navy ship.
After Anthony Albanese was criticized for allegedly “delaying” disclosure of details of the incident during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the prime minister said on Monday that what happened was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
But his response roiled the Chinese government, which rejected the idea that one of its warships would harm Australian divers, saying the claim was “deplorable”.
“We hope that relevant parties will stop making trouble on China’s doorstep and work with China to maintain the momentum of improving and expanding China-Australia ties,” Chinese ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said of Foreign Affairs.
Australian authorities claimed a Chinese warship injured Australian military personnel from HMAS Toowoomba off the coast of Japan with sonar pulses last Tuesday.
China has accused Australia of “causing trouble” after its military revealed a diver was injured by Chinese sonar blasts near an Australian navy ship. Anthony Albanese is pictured with Chinese President Xi Jinping
The Australians were operating in international waters in support of a United Nations mission when the incident occurred.
But China’s Defense Ministry said its naval destroyer did not conduct any activities that could affect diving operations and “maintained a safe distance from the Australian ship.”
Australia’s comments on the incident were “completely inconsistent with the facts,” the Chinese government said in a statement.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said it was not good for relations between the countries that China refused to acknowledge what happened.
“That is very unfortunate, because if you are not willing to acknowledge the facts, then that does not reflect well on your willingness to change your behavior,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
“That’s really what we and so many other countries in the region need to see the Chinese military do, is change their operational protocols and their behavior to be less confrontational.”
Failure to do so increases the risk of an accident or miscalculation in the future, he said.
‘That of course increases the risk of a possible escalation, with all the devastating consequences that entails.’
The incident happened just days before Albanese met Xi on the sidelines of last week’s APEC summit in San Francisco.
The Prime Minister remains under pressure to confirm whether he raised the incident directly with Mr Xi during their meeting at APEC.
The incident was kept under wraps for days and only made public after Mr Albanese left the summit to return home.
He has declined to detail the content of private conversations, but Mr Birmingham said Mr Albanese would have been happy to discuss issues raised with Mr Xi when he visited China.
“So for him to now come back to Australia and say, ‘I will not reveal the content of the conversations’ is quite unfair and completely contrary to the evidence,” he said.
Australian authorities said a Chinese warship injured Australian soldiers from HMAS Toowoomba off the coast of Japan with sonar pulses last Tuesday.
Australian authorities said a Chinese warship injured Australian military personnel from HMAS Toowoomba off the coast of Japan with sonar pulses last Tuesday
Mr Albanese and top ministers have said Australia’s concerns have been made clear and raised with Chinese authorities.
“I can assure you that we have raised these issues appropriately and very clearly and unequivocally,” Albanese told Sky News on Monday.
“There is no misunderstanding about the Australian view on this.”