Sat. Nov 23rd, 2024
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A top Chinese official has warned Australia that its naval vessels need to act “prudently” in waters anywhere near China in the wake of a confrontation which left two Australian divers with minor injuries.

The federal government lodged protests with Beijing after a Chinese warship approached the Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba in international waters in the East China Sea earlier this month, deploying sonar while the two divers cleared fishing nets from its propeller.

The incident reignited tensions between China and Australia in the wake of Anthony Albanese’s landmark visit to Beijing in early November, with the defence minister accusing China of “unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour.

The head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, Liu Jianchao, fielded questions about the incident while speaking at the University of Technology’s Australia-China Relations Institute in Sydney.

Mr Liu struck a generally positive and optimistic tone for much of his address, sketching a positive trajectory for the bilateral relationship and suggesting that Australia and China could cooperate on development projects in the Pacific.

But he was less conciliatory when pressed about the HMAS Toowoomba incident, suggesting that China used sonar to monitor the ship because Australia had previously accused China of “coercive” behaviour in both the East and South China Seas.

“This kind of rhetoric … gives the Chinese people a message that the reason why Australian naval ships are there was really to contain China. So that’s the message we have been getting,” he said.

“It’s why you are there and the statements you make … China has its interests in the (East) China Sea and we have to do some kind of analysis and judgement of the military presence in that area.”

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