Anthony Albanese ‘evasive’ on Chinese warship, says Coalition

Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he raised a Chinese warship’s reckless sonar usage with Xi Jinping, in a move condemned as evasive and inadequate.

Chinese President Xi Jinping talks with Anthony Albanese during the APEC summit. Picture: Reuters

Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he raised a Chinese warship’s dangerous sonar usage near Australian divers with Xi Jinping at APEC, in a move condemned by the opposition as evasive and inadequate.

Speaking for the first time about the sonar incident, the Prime Minister blasted the “dangerous” and “unprofessional” conduct by the Chinese destroyer, which knowingly used its sonar while Australian personnel were in the water

He revealed one of the divers had “suffered an injury” from the warship’s active sonar, and said the government conveyed Australia’s objections to China “very clearly through all of the normal channels”.

But when asked directly if he raised the incident with President Xi, Mr Albanese deflected.

“When I was in San Francisco, there was no bilateral meeting with President Xi, where you give a readout of what the events occurred (sic),” he told Sky News.

“I don’t talk about private meetings on the sidelines, discussions I have with any world leader.

“That’s how you keep communications open. But I can assure you that we raised these issues in the appropriate way, very clearly, unequivocally, and there is no misunderstanding as to Australia’s views on this.”

The Sky interview was Mr Albanese’s first since arriving back in Australia, and did nothing to clear up the growing pressure on his government over the incident.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Mr Albanese’s response “defies credibility”.

“Australians can only deduce from Mr Albanese’s evasiveness that he didn’t raise Australia’s concerns with China’s military actions, thereby failing to adequately seize the opportunity to make Australian concerns known at the highest level,” Senator Birmingham said.

“Australia should be making our concerns clear to the highest levels of Chinese leadership because this isn’t just a one-off incident, it is part of a dangerous pattern of behaviour that we need China to cease engaging in.”

The November 14 incident in Japan’s exclusive economic zone occurred before Mr Albanese headed to the APEC conference but was only revealed by the government as he was heading home.

Former navy clearance divers spoken to by The Australian said the Chinese destroyer – which knew the divers were in the water – could have seriously injured the Australian personnel.

“Sonar presents a massive hazard to divers in the water,” one said. “Essentially, the diver can suffer severe injuries that disable them. When you’re working underwater that can be really dangerous.

“Any time we dive under a ship there is a rigorous process that ensures sonars on Australian ships are isolated to prevent any damage to the divers.”

A Defence spokeswoman said the divers sustained “minor injuries” that were “likely due to being subjected to the sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer”. She said all members of the dive team were now well, and had been cleared to return to normal duties.

China’s state-run Global Times said the Australian account of the incident was “widely questioned by Chinese military experts”.

“Did the incident take place near China’s Diaoyu Islands or the island of Taiwan? Or was it close to a PLA training exercise? If that is the case, it was obvious that the Australian warship provoked China in the first place,” it quoted an expert as saying.

But opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the Chinese ship’s behaviour was “very reckless, if not malicious”.

“It put our divers at risk, and that’s why it should be escalated and raised at the highest levels,” Mr Hastie told 2GB.

“If he did (raise the incident with President Xi) then he should let the Australian people know … I think there is grave concern that we are being treated like fools.”

Earlier, Tanya Plibersek said Mr Albanese didn’t disclose private conversations with other world leaders, as Scott Morrison did with French leader Emmanuel Macron. “It doesn’t help international relations to behave in that way,” she told Sunrise.