A U.S. Navy plane P-8 Poseidon takes off from Perth Airport on route to conduct search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean, near the coast of Western Australia, Saturday, April 5, 2014. AP Photo/Rob Griffith
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he confronted Beijing “directly and frankly” over a recent military incident involving a Chinese jet firing flares dangerously close to an Australian RAAF aircraft over the South China Sea.
Speaking after the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Albanese said open dialogue with China remained crucial for regional stability despite “clear disagreements.”
“We have disagreements, and friends are able to discuss issues frankly. I did that directly,” he told reporters on Oct. 27.
“It’s important that we engage diplomatically, that we make clear our position, which I did directly.”
The prime minister declined to reveal Beijing’s response, saying only that “the message was heard very directly.”
He said maintaining communication was essential to avoid miscalculation.
“I’m not here to report on what people say when I have meetings. I’m accountable for what I say. I made the position directly clear that this was an incident of concern for Australia.”
The flare encounter occurred on Oct. 19, when a People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft released flares near a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon conducting a routine surveillance mission.
‘Engage Where We Must’: Albanese
Albanese also met with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the summit—their seventh meeting since he took office—describing the discussion as “positive.”
“That says something about the engagement that is there. Once again, it was a positive meeting,” he said.
“China is our largest trading partner. One in four Australian jobs depends upon trade, and China represents around about 30 percent of the destination of our exports.”
Albanese said the relationship was “improving and stabilising,” stressing the importance of ongoing diplomacy for economic and strategic security.
“We must cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, but engage in our national interest—and that’s the spirit in which we entered the discussion today,” he said.
When asked whether the incident had affected his trust in Beijing, Albanese replied, “That’s a nation-to-nation issue which we raise very directly. Anything that President Xi has said to me has occurred, and that is just a fact.”
