James Paterson chastises ‘ridiculous’ sonar claim by Chinese ambassador

A day after China’s top diplomat in Australia made a ‘ridiculous’ claim, the Coalition has called on the Albanese government to rule out one thing.

The Albanese government needs to swiftly rule out joint military exercises with China, the Coalition says, after Beijing’s top diplomat used a rare media appearance to voice his hopes for the future of the bilateral relationship.

The Coalition has also chastised Beijing for its suggestion that Japan was to blame for a sonar pulses incident that injured Australian navy divers last November, with the opposition’s home affairs spokesman James Paterson saying such a suggestion was “ridiculous in the extreme”.

China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, spoke for more than two hours on Wednesday, during which he dismissed the idea a Chinese ship had been to blame for the incident.

“They (the Chinese) didn’t initiate the so-called sonar against the divers from the Australian side,” he said.

“Should they have initiated the sonar from the Chinese ship against the divers it would cause immediate fatality.”

Chinese Ambassador Xiao Qian made a rare media appearance on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman James Paterson blasted ‘ridiculous’ claims the ambassador made. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Albanese government took aim at China in November for the “unsafe and unprofessional interaction” inside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong overnight said it was Mr Xiao’s “job” to advocate for his country.

“What I would say about that incident is we stand by the assessments of the ADF and the representations we made,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday said he stood by the comments his government made at the time.

“I’m not swayed by the (ambassador’s) comments,” he said.

“The navy made reports, I think it’s very clear what occurred, and I stand by the comments that I made at the time – it was wrong, it shouldn’t have occurred.”

Senator Paterson went a step further, criticising the ambassador.

“One of the problems of being a Chinese diplomat abroad is that you have an audience of one, and that’s an audience at home and that’s (president) Xi Jinping. And everything you say and do is about pleasing that audience, not the host country who you’re trying to influence,” he said on Thursday morning.

“That leads you to say utterly absurd things that completely undermine your credibility as a diplomat.

“It is ridiculous in the extreme to suggest this was Japan.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he stood by comments his government made at the time of the incident. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

China’s envoy to Australia had spoken about how a stronger defence relationship was crucial if the bilateral relationship was to be one of “full trust”.

“I want to be honest that … the defence relationship between our two countries is an area where we need to more input and work harder on,” he said.

“This is an area that is so important to the mutual trust and confidence between our two countries and two peoples … You have trust and friendship in many areas, but not in defence.”

“As ambassador, I would like to see more interactions (and) engagement between (our) two defence peoples. We used to have it … mutual visits, joint military exercises, you know, all kinds of things. This is an area I hope in this New Year we can make some progress.”

But Senator Paterson questioned how Australia could conduct joint military exercises with China if Beijing could not take ownership of the incident.

“I’m deeply sceptical that closer military relations or joint exercises with the Chinese Communist Party is possible in the current strategic environment given their posture in the world,” Senator Paterson said.

“I hope that the Albanese government swiftly rules this out.”