Australia’s Albanese speaks out on ‘dangerous’ Chinese navy incident that injured diver

Anthony Albanese told Australian media on Monday that the November 14 incident ‘certainly is an event that does do damage’ to Canberra’s China ties

‘We’ve made that very clear to China’, he said in his first comments on the matter, adding that it highlighted the need for ‘communication guardrails’

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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Apec forum in San Francisco last week. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Published: 2:34pm, 20 Nov 2023Updated: 8:55pm, 20 Nov 2023

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a Chinese warship acted in a dangerous and unprofessional manner during an incident with an Australian navy vessel that injured a military diver, his first comments on the matter which he said had damaged ties.

HMAS Toowoomba – a long-range frigate – was conducting a diving operation in Japan’s exclusive economic zone on November 14 to clear fishing nets from its propellers when the incident occurred, Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday.

Albanese, who met briefly with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in San Francisco last week, has come under domestic political pressure over whether he raised the matter with the Chinese leader.

In an interview on Monday with Sky News Australia, Albanese said the incident caused injury to one person and shows the need for “communication guardrails” between militaries.

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“This was dangerous, it was unsafe and unprofessional from the Chinese warship,” he said.

Albanese said the incident was raised through “all of the normal channels”, but didn’t disclose if it was discussed in his private meeting with Xi at Apec.