Australia rejects China comments on sonar incident

SYDNEY - Australia on Jan 18 rejected comments by China’s ambassador seeking to deflect blame from China’s navy for the injury of Australian military divers in an incident near Japan in November.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was “not swayed” by Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian’s comment a day earlier that a Chinese navy ship did not use its sonar while Australian divers were in the water, and a Japanese boat could have been the source.

Mr Albanese said in November a Chinese warship acted in a dangerous manner by

using its sonar during an incident

with an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s waters that injured military divers who were clearing fishing nets from its propellers. He added that the incident had damaged ties between the two countries.

China has previously rejected Australia’s description of the incident, and at an annual press briefing on Jan 17, Mr Xiao said China “didn’t initiate sonar”, adding that a Japanese navy boat was nearby.

“Whether there was sonar from the other party, we don’t know,” he told reporters.

Mr Albanese said on Jan 18: “I think it is very clear what occurred.

“I stand by the comments I made at the time, that it was wrong, that it shouldn’t have occurred,” he said in a media briefing.

Australia has said medical assessments found that minor injuries on the divers involved were likely caused by the Chinese destroyer’s sonar.

Japan’s embassy in Australia said it did not know what Mr Xiao said.

“Generally speaking, however, Japan and Australia as the core of a partnership of like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region, unambiguously abide by the rule of law and have been promoting security cooperation across a wide range of areas,” an embassy spokesman said in a statement. REUTERS