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China says Australia complaint about laser does not square with fact
China urges Australia to stop maliciously spreading such information, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin takes a question at the Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing on November 9, 2020. (AFP/Greg Baker)
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hina's foreign ministry said on Monday that Australia's complaint about a laser from a Chinese naval vessel being directed at an Australian military aircraft does not square with facts.
China urges Australia to stop maliciously spreading such information, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday.
Earlier on Monday Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Beijing of an 'act of intimidation' after a Chinese navy vessel directed a laser at an Australian military surveillance aircraft last week.
A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was illuminated on Thursday while flying over Australia's northern approaches by a laser from a People's Liberation Army–Navy (PLA-N) vessel, potentially endangering lives, the defence department said.
Morrison said his government will demand answers from Beijing.
"I can see it no other way than an act of intimidation, one (...) unprovoked, unwarranted," Morrison said at a briefing. "And Australia will never accept such acts of intimidation."
Defence Minister Peter Dutton called the incident "a very aggressive act" that took place in Australia's exclusive economic zone.
The Chinese vessel was sailing east with another PLA-N ship through the Arafura Sea at the time of the incident, the department said. The sea lies between the north coast of Australia and the south coast of New Guinea.
