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Australia rejects China’s claim Japan may have fired sonar pulse at military divers
- Chinese envoy Xiao Qian said his country’s ship did not use its sonar while Australian divers were in the water, and a Japanese boat could have been the source
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refuted Xiao’s suggestion, saying ‘I think it is very clear what occurred’
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Australia on Thursday 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.
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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.
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, and the incident had damaged ties.
China has previously rejected Australia’s description of the incident, and at an annual press briefing on Wednesday, Xiao said China “did not initiate sonar”, adding there was a Japanese navy boat nearby. “Whether there was sonar from the other party, we don’t know,” he told reporters.
Albanese said on Thursday, “I think it is very clear what occurred.”
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