BEIJING: Beijing on Sunday said Canberra had “deliberately hyped” recent Chinese naval exercises near the Australian coast and confirmed its forces had used live fire in an incident that rattled Australian policymakers.
Authorities in Australia and close ally New Zealand have been monitoring three Chinese navy vessels spotted in recent days in international waters of the nearby Tasman Sea.
Canberra said Saturday it had not yet received a satisfactory explanation from Beijing for Friday’s drill, which saw the Chinese ships broadcast a live-fire warning that caused commercial planes to change course.
China’s defense ministry hit back on Sunday, saying the “relevant remarks of the Australian side are completely inconsistent with facts,” while also confirming the use of live ammunition.
“During the period, China organized live-fire training of naval guns toward the sea on the basis of repeatedly issuing prior safety notices,” Wu Qian, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said in a statement.
Wu added that China’s actions were “in full compliance with international law and international practices, with no impact on aviation flight safety.”
“Australia, while well aware of this, made unreasonable accusations against China and deliberately hyped it up,” said Wu, adding that Beijing was “astonished and strongly dissatisfied.”
The altercation threatens to complicate the relationship between Beijing and Canberra, which has gradually warmed under Australia’s Labor government.
Ties were derailed nearly a decade ago due to concerns in Australia about Chinese influence in local politics, followed by a 2018 ban on tech giant Huawei from Australia’s 5G network.
Earlier this month, Canberra rebuked Beijing for “unsafe” military conduct, accusing a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares near an Australian air force plane patrolling the South China Sea.
China said at the time that the Australian plane had “deliberately intruded into the airspace around China’s Xisha Islands,” using Beijing’s name for the Paracel Islands, adding that its “measures to expel the aircraft were legitimate, legal, professional and restrained.”
Beijing accuses Australia of ‘hyping’ China naval live fire drills
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Beijing accuses Australia of ‘hyping’ China naval live fire drills
- Beijing on Sunday said Canberra had “deliberately hyped” recent Chinese naval exercises near the Australian coast and confirmed its forces had used live fire in an incident
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
