Australian PM Knew of CCP Sonar Attack Before Meeting Xi

Albanese knew of the sonar incident that injured Australian Navy divers, emails obtained by the Australia Broadcasting Corporation reveal.

A People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) Luyang-class guided missile destroyer leaves the Torres Strait and enters the Coral Sea on Feb. 18, 2022. Australian Defence Department

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese knew of an incident in which a Chinese warship had used its sonar against Australian Navy divers before he met Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco, emails released to the ABC reveal. They were obtained under Freedom of Information laws (FOI).

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Assistant Secretary Edwina Stevens wrote on Nov. 15 that the head of Military Strategic Commitments had provided her an outline of what had happened about 24 hours prior.

Her email states that while in the East China Sea, “The HMAS Toowoomba was en route to Japan ... It was trailed by a PLA (People’s Liberation Army) warship. [The Australian ship’s] underside became tangled in some fishing nets and debris so it had to stop to clear.

“To do so, it gave all appropriate signals, by radio and flag ... The PLA craft acknowledged but did not stop at an appropriate distance and, when the divers were in the water, activated a [water] sonar, at least twice—it did not stop when HMAS Toowoomba requested it to.”

‘Acoustic Transmissions’ Detected

In documents labelled “not for public release,” the Defence Department explained HMAS Toowoomba had requested the PLA destroyer stay 3 nautical miles (5.5 kilometres) away from the Australian ship.