Chinese Destroyer Injured Australian Divers Off Japanese Coast

Unusual weapons were used.

A Chinese destroyer may have injured Australian divers with its sonar pulses in Japan's exclusive economic zone.

This has been reported by Bloomberg.

“The Chinese People's Liberation Army destroyer ignored the Australian Navy's request to stay away from divers who were servicing HMAS Toowoomba,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said.

He said divers were removing nets that had wrapped around the propellers of an Australian ship that was conducting operations in Japan's economic zone in support of UN sanctions.

“Medical examinations conducted after the divers emerged from the water indicated that they suffered minor injuries, likely due to exposure to sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer,” Marles said.

The Australian Navy also called the incident unsafe and unprofessional behavior.

The Australian ship was in Japanese waters as part of an operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Tensions between China and Western allies

The Chinese military periodically passes too close to the Japanese and South Korean shores, thus demonstrating rash behavior towards military aircraft and ships of other countries. Thus, in August of this year, 11 Chinese and Russian warships were spotted off the southern islands of Japan. That prompted the Japanese government to express “serious concerns” about what it calls a show of force by its neighbors.

And before that, in May, the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry warned that China and Russia were strengthening their military cooperation, in particular they were talking about joint bomber flights and joint naval exercises.