SYDNEY – China has urged Australia to inform it of navy actions within the contested South China Sea and East China Sea, with a senior Chinese official cautioning {that a} small incident between militaries might escalate and injury ties.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese final week mentioned a Chinese warship acted in a harmful method by utilizing its sonar throughout an incident with an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s waters that injured a navy diver.
The identical Australian vessel, Toowoomba, started joint patrols with the Philippines within the South China Sea for the primary time on Saturday, amid rising tensions between Beijing and Manila over a disputed shoal.
Australian Leader Criticizes Chinese After ‘Dangerous’ Military Encounter
Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, the top of the worldwide division of the Chinese Communist Party, Liu Jianchao, mentioned the sonar incident passed off in waters the place there’s a dispute between Japan and China, and questioned why the Australian navy was there.
Liu, who denied China had harmed Australian navy personnel, known as for ‘any form of pre-consultations or notification’ to stop misunderstandings from occurring between two militaries.
‘Such small incidents might actually escalate if it is not correctly managed,’ he mentioned, referring to public feelings. He was talking in response to questions at an occasion hosted by the Australia-China Relations Institute on the University of Technology, Sydney.
Liu mentioned the presence of Australia’s navy vessels gave the impression to be an announcement about China’s insurance policies within the South China Sea.
‘The cause why the Australian naval ships had been there was actually to include China – so that’s the message that we have now been getting,’ he mentioned.
He urged the Australian authorities and navy to ‘act with nice prudence on this space.’
Australia has beforehand mentioned it respects the appropriate of all states to train freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with worldwide regulation. Two-thirds of Australian commerce passes by the South China Sea.
This month Albanese made the primary go to by an Australian chief to China in seven years, after efforts by each side to stabilize the connection.