Anthony Albanese urged to ‘be honest’ over whether he raised sonar incident with Xi Jinping

Peter Dutton has slammed Anthony Albanese for refusing to say whether he raised China’s sonar blast on Australian divers during his meeting with Xi Jinping.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Peter Dutton has slammed Anthony Albanese for refusing to say whether he raised China’s sonar blast on Australian divers during his meeting with Xi Jinping, ­accusing the Prime Minister of failing to “stand up for our national interest”.

Mr Albanese expressed concern over the incident, which left Australian navy divers injured, but would not divulge details of his conversation with President Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit last week, or confirm whether the sonar incident was discussed.

Despite maintaining the confidence of his discussions with President Xi, Mr Albanese was ­accused by Chinese officials of making “rude and irresponsible accusations toward China”.

“We urge the Australian side to respect the facts … engage in endeavours that are conducive in boosting mutual trust, and build a positive atmosphere for developing better bilateral relations and military-to-military ties,” national defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said, according to CCP-owned newspaper Global Times. “The Chinese vessel … kept a safe distance from the Australian vessel and did not conduct any activity that could affect the Australian side’s diving operations.”

China’s foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning also ­accused Australia of “making trouble in front of China’s doorsteps” and said no breach of international law had taken place.

“The Chinese military is strictly disciplined and always operates professionally in accordance with the international law and international common practices,” she said.

Mr Dutton said China’s denial that it broke international laws in regards to its warship’s proximity to navy divers was “propaganda”. “The fact is that there is aggressive behaviour taking place and our country should be calling it out,” he said.

Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese needed to be “honest” over whether he had discussed the matter with President Xi and apologise if he had not.

“We want a strong trading relationship, but that doesn’t mean that our Prime Minister has to back pedal, or soft pedal, it doesn’t mean that our Prime Minister needs to come up with some sort of tricky explanation as to why he didn’t raise this very significant issue with President Xi,” he said.

“Did he raise the issue or he didn’t? Just be open and honest with the Australian public. If he didn’t, then he’s made a catastrophic mistake and he needs to apologise for it; if he did raise it, well, he needs to come up with a proper explanation as to why he continues to talk in riddles.”

Labor has taken strides towards stabilising the relationship with Beijing, winning the easing of some trade ­sanctions enforced on Australian products under the Coalition government.

In a Sky News interview on Monday, Mr Albanese refused to say whether he brought up the sonar incident with President Xi.

“I don’t talk about private meetings on the sidelines, discussions I have with any world leader. That’s how you keep communications open,” he said. “But I can assure you that we raised these issues in the appropriate way and very clearly, unequivocally. And … there’s no misunderstanding as to Australia’s view on this.

“It was unsafe and unprofessional from the Chinese forces.”

The incident took place within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, where HMAS Toowoomba had been operating as part of a UN mission. The injured divers have recovered and returned to duty.