Penny Wong rebukes Chinese diplomat over sonar pulses

Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has rebuked one of China’s top diplomats over the Chinese navy’s dangerous use of sonar pulses against Australian divers, describing the incident earlier this month as “dangerous and unprofessional”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also raised the incident in a meeting with Liu Jianchao in Canberra on Wednesday, telling the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department that it was lucky no one died.

Rebuke: Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A spokeswoman for Wong said: “The minister raised the HMAS Toowoomba incident in her formal meeting with minister Liu Jianchao.

“The minister reiterated the Australian government’s serious concerns following an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer.

“The Foreign Minister sees ­engagement with senior Chinese officials as an opportunity for ­dialogue, in order to navigate our differences.”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Wong said: “We had a frank discussion about bilateral relations, including consular matters, and the importance of international law, rules and norms to peace and security in the region.”

An Australian navy diver was injured while clearing entangled fishing nets from the propellers of HMAS Toowoomba, a warship operating in international waters in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

In remarks at an event in Sydney, Liu said the confrontation occurred in waters both Japan and China claim and that the Chinese navy did nothing that would “endanger” Australian sailors or divers.

“What would happen if a Chinese naval ship came to … waters near Australia?” he asked.

“Naturally you send your ships to monitor and identify and to do anything to prepare for any wrong happenings.”

A spokeswoman for Dutton said the opposition leader used his meeting with Liu to “raise Australia’s concern about the recent actions of the Chinese navy in the strongest possible terms”, adding that he asked for his concerns to be relayed directly to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The use of a hull-mounted sonar in close proximity to Australian Navy personnel was unacceptable and unprovoked,” the spokeswoman said, summarising Dutton’s remarks to Liu.

“It was fortunate that no lives had been lost.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned China for its dangerous use of sonar near Australian navy divers, but has refused to confirm publicly whether he raised the issue with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco.

“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,” Albanese said last week.

“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.”

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