By Sarah McPhee and Mary Ward
A Chinese warship’s “unsafe and unprofessional” use of sonar is suspected of injuring Australian navy divers during an operation in international waters.
Divers from HMAS Toowoomba suffered minor ear damage in Tuesday’s incident involving a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer, which used its powerful sonar despite being warned Australian personnel were underwater nearby.
The incident occurred before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit, sparking questions from the federal opposition about why the details were withheld until Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, Defence Minister Richard Marles, who was acting prime minister while Albanese was in San Francisco, described the incident as an “unsafe and unprofessional interaction”.
He stressed that Australia expected “all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner”.
Marles said HMAS Toowoomba had stopped to clear fishing nets entangled around its propellers, advised the PLA-N destroyer that diving operations were under way and “requested the ship keep clear”.
HMAS Toowoomba.Credit: Royal Australian Navy
“Despite acknowledging Toowoomba’s communications, the Chinese vessel approached at a closer range,” he said.
“Soon after, it was detected operating its hull-mounted sonar in a manner that posed a risk to the safety of the Australian divers who were forced to exit the water. This is unsafe and unprofessional conduct.
“Medical assessments conducted after the divers exited the water identified they had sustained minor injuries likely due to being subjected to the sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer.”
HMAS Toowoomba had been in the region, inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, en route to a scheduled port visit and conducting operations in support of United Nations sanctions enforcement, the statement said.
Marles said HMAS Toowoomba “at all times … communicated its intention to conduct diving operations on normal maritime channels, and using internationally recognised signals”.
He did not explain why the government had waited until Saturday – after Albanese had met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC – to disclose the incident.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Albanese should have raised the matter directly with Xi at APEC.
“The first opportunity would have been the prime minister directly raising this with Xi Jinping in San Francisco,” he said on Saturday.
“He’s going overseas to do these important trips for a reason. And one of those reasons is to stand up for Australia and stand up for our interests.
“There could be nothing more important than him raising this directly with Xi Jinping.”
It is not known if Albanese discussed the matter with Xi. Marles said the federal government had expressed “serious concerns” to the Chinese government.
Paterson said the action by the Chinese vessel was “incredibly risky” and described it as inappropriate behaviour and “frankly not the act of a friend”.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Dr Euan Graham said a key question was whether China knew there were divers in the water.
“If they did, it looks very bad indeed. But we can’t make that assumption,” he said, adding it was, regardless, “obviously unsafe and unprofessional” conduct.
“Time and time again we see China resorting to so-called ‘grey zone’ activity. But this is pretty black and white. It’s nowhere near the area China claims to own, and designed to harass, intimidate and make it more difficult for Australia and Japan to work together,” he said.
Graham said the move was entirely inconsistent with recent diplomatic relations. Albanese became the first sitting prime minister to visit China since 2016 when he met with Xi this month.
“Is this left hand-right hand bad co-ordination, or deliberately shaking the hand but kicking the shins under the table? It is entirely possible that it is the latter.”
Australian Defence Association executive director Neil James agreed the incident was “very odd” given Albanese’s recent trip to China.
He said incidents such as this and another earlier this year when Qantas warned pilots about GPS jamming suspected to originate from warships in the South China Sea, demonstrated a potential pattern of “unnecessary and provocative behaviour”.
In February 2022, a Chinese warship aimed a military-grade laser at an RAAF aircraft while sailing through Australia’s exclusive economic zone, between the Northern Territory and Papua. Three months later, a Chinese spy ship was tracked for a week off Australia’s west coast near a secretive naval communications base, in a move then defence minister Peter Dutton labelled an aggressive act.
“If it continues, it doesn’t matter how good the relationships are at the diplomatic level,” James said. “This is just a very complex relationship, and that is probably enhanced by the size and complexity of the Chinese state.”
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