Under pressure to reveal whether he raised the matter with Xi Jinping,the prime minister said his government had made its views known about the “regrettable incident”.
Relations between China and the US have been tense,with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything from Taiwan to China’s human rights record.
The two countries have had numerous run-ins in areas of the South China Sea in recent months,especially the disputed Second Thomas Shoal,part of the Spratly Islands.
Defending his country’s upgrading of ties with Beijing,Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta says China is “more respectful of Australia’s position than Australia is of the Chinese position”.
The fatal collision with an oil tanker occurred in waters off Scarborough Shoal,an atoll disputed by Manila and Beijing that has everyone jumping.
Philippine officials condemned China’s installation of a 300-metre-long barrier at the entrance to the rich fishing waters of the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal.
Manila says China’s maritime militia has modified the natural topography of its underwater terrain. Beijing says the claims are fiction.
Taiwan is often spoken of in terms of the US and China,but not in terms of what its own people - like me - hope to see regarding their fate.
The US president,tired from a gruelling four-day trip to Asia,said China’s slowing economy might prove a reprieve for the island.
It’s taken a mutual wariness,and even alarm,about China’s economic coercion and territorial expansionism to bond the two nations together.
Anthony Albanese is pushing to deepen economic and security ties with South-East Asia as he departs on a three-nation overseas diplomatic trip.