Australian naval divers injured after being subjected to Chinese warship’s sonar pulses

Was this meant to be a get-off-my-turf micro aggression that could later be denied if needed by saying it was an accident? But also, if the sonar can injure people, what does it to to whales or fish?

I get that we don't want to start a war over a relatively "minor" incident, but a foreign military attacking our military personnel? How is that acceptable in the slightest?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, on Saturday said the Australian government had expressed “serious concerns” to Chinese officials after the HMAS Toowoomba encountered a People’s Liberation Army-Navy destroyer on Tuesday.

The Toowoomba was in international waters in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, having worked to enforce United Nations sanctions, and was on its way to a scheduled port visit when fishing nets became entangled around its propellers.

The ship stopped so naval divers could clear the nets and its crew communicated what it was doing through the usual maritime channels, Marles said in a statement.

The Chinese vessel acknowledged the message but came even closer, and was soon after detected operating its hull-mounted sonar, posing a risk to the Australian divers’ safety, Marles said.

The defence force has for decades undertaken surveillance in the region and does so in accordance with international law, Marles said.

On Saturday, Albanese said he witnessed US president Joe Biden involved in a “warm discussion” with Xi during the APEC summit in San Francisco.

The original article contains 433 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Pressure on PM to front up over Chinese naval incident

The Coalition is pressing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reveal if he personally challenged China’s President Xi Jinping about injuries inflicted on Australian seamen by a People’s Liberation Army warship last week [...]

The government is now facing criticism for waiting until the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in San Francisco to reveal the incident, in which a Chinese navy destroyer used sonar close to Australian divers causing them to cease repair operations and suffer minor injuries.

Defence Minister Richard Marles issued a statement just after Mr Albanese finished addressing the media in the US and ahead of his flight back to Australia, ensuring the prime minister did not have to answer questions hot on the heels of meeting with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the summit.