Naval divers working to clear fishing nets from the HMAS Toowoomba's propellers were forced to exit the water when a Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar, in an incident labelled "unsafe and unprofessional".
HMAS Toowoomba had been operating in international waters off Japan in support of a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions when the incident occurred on Tuesday.
Naval divers were working to clear fishing nets from the Australian frigate’s propellers, when the Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar.
According to Defence Minister Richard Marles, the Australian frigate provided multiple warnings to vessels in the area that diving operations were underway.
The incident comes less than a fortnight after Anthony Albanese made the first official visit to Beijing by an Australian prime minister in seven years, meeting President Xi Jinping.
The discussion was described by the prime minister as one of ‘goodwill’, and President Xi credited Mr Albanese for working to stabilise the relationship between the two countries after years of rising tensions.
In May last year, tensions between Australia and China were heightened by the presence of a Chinese surveillance ship operating off the West Australian coast, close to a secretive naval communications base at Exmouth.
The original article contains 306 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
HMAS Toowoomba had been operating in international waters off Japan in support of a United Nations mission to enforce sanctions when the incident occurred on Tuesday.
Naval divers were working to clear fishing nets from the Australian frigate’s propellers, when the Chinese warship began operating its hull-mounted sonar.
According to Defence Minister Richard Marles, the Australian frigate provided multiple warnings to vessels in the area that diving operations were underway.
The incident comes less than a fortnight after Anthony Albanese made the first official visit to Beijing by an Australian prime minister in seven years, meeting President Xi Jinping.
The discussion was described by the prime minister as one of ‘goodwill’, and President Xi credited Mr Albanese for working to stabilise the relationship between the two countries after years of rising tensions.
In May last year, tensions between Australia and China were heightened by the presence of a Chinese surveillance ship operating off the West Australian coast, close to a secretive naval communications base at Exmouth.
The original article contains 306 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 46%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!