Albanese condemns China over ‘dangerous, unprofessional’ use of sonar

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned China for its dangerous use of sonar near Australian navy divers, while refusing to divulge the contents of a conversation with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Under mounting pressure from the opposition to reveal whether he had raised the matter with Xi in San Francisco, Albanese said his government had made its views known about the “regrettable incident” that occurred in Japanese waters in every possible forum.

Xi Jinping and Anthony Albanese.Credit: AP

In comments that left open the possibility he had raised the matter with Xi, Albanese told Sky News: “It’s one where we have put our very strong objections to China very clearly, very directly, through all of the appropriate channels, in all of the forums that are available to us.”

Drawing a distinction between his most recent interaction and past meetings with the Chinese leader, Albanese said: “When I was in San Francisco, there was no bilateral meeting with President Xi where you give a readout of what the events occurred.

“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 and very clearly, unequivocally.”

Albanese said the conduct of China’s People’s Liberation Army was “dangerous, it was unsafe and unprofessional”.

“We’ve made it clear that we disagree with what occurred, that we have the strongest possible objection, and that this sort of event should not occur,” he said.

“The frigate involved clearly had out a sign that there were divers below. They were freeing up a fishing net from the equipment that was required under the water. And they should have been allowed to undertake this normal activity without this sort of intervention from the Chinese.”

Earlier in the day, former prime minister Kevin Rudd said the actions of the Chinese navy were unacceptable, but dismissed calls for Albanese to say whether he had raised the incident with Xi at APEC.

Rudd, now Australia’s ambassador to the United States, told ABC Radio National on Monday that the issue of whether Albanese and Xi had discussed the incident was “a complete distraction from the central question, which is China through its actions, through the PLA Navy, engaged in unsafe practices against the Royal Australian Navy.

“The actions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Navy against the HMAS Toowoomba were unacceptable by any international standards.”

Two divers from HMAS Toowoomba suffered minor ear damage in the incident involving a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer last Tuesday, several days before Albanese’s meeting with Xi at the APEC summit.

Opposition members, including home affairs spokesman James Paterson and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, have demanded to know if Albanese raised the incident with Xi when the pair met.

Paterson told 2GB on Monday: “[Albanese has] boasted about the time that he’s spent with Xi Jinping and China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, while he was there, but did he raise this question? Well, he hasn’t said so, and if he’s not saying so, I fear the answer is he didn’t.”

Sonar is used by ships to navigate waters and identify obstacles, but when navy divers are in operation, nearby ships are warned.

China’s act risks undermining the relationship Albanese has been working to strengthen over recent weeks, which international security expert Professor John Blaxland says gives the government “a sense of reality”.

“While there is nothing in it for Australia to go tit for tat … what’s happening substantively is the talk is not matching the walk,” he said.

“[Australia needs] to be very clear-eyed about what our interests are and about how to manage those expectations and interests.”

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