Australia: China's criticism of nuclear-powered submarines "stupid"
Australia has harshly attacked a Chinese diplomat who has been critical of the upcoming nuclear-powered submarine market.
The Australia ridiculed the statements made by senior Chinese diplomat, who warned Canberra for its plan to buy at least eight nuclear-powered submarines from the US, commenting that his statements are "so stupid that it's funny."
The commissioner of the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Wang Xining, estimated that Australia would become a "bad kid" if it acquired these submarines, which have more autonomy and are more difficult to locate than conventional ones.
According to Wang in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, everyone knows that these submarines "are designed to launch attacks (…) against targets that are far away".
"Who will you attack? "You no longer love peace, you are no longer defenders of peace."
Wang, who serves as ambassador, also said that Australia "has zero technological capabilities from a technological point of view, which could ensure that no accidents occur".
"And if something happens, are politicians ready to apologize to the people of Melbourne and Adelaide?" He asked.
Australian Defense Secretary Peter Dutton called Wang's statements "provocative and comical" and "completely stupid to the point of being funny".
"The caretaker ambassador is probably reading the Communist Party script, but I think most Australians understand the unproductive nature of his comments," he added.
In September, Australia announced the cancellation of a huge contract for the purchase of conventional submarines from France, worth 55 billion euros, preferring nuclear-powered submarines from the US, after signing a cooperation agreement with Washington and London for the Indo-Aegean region. the AUKUS.
The deal has angered China and France, with Paris discovering at the last minute that Australia was secretly negotiating a deal with the United States and Britain and that it would cancel a deal to buy French submarines.
In his interview, Wang also warned Australian politicians against any action that could "damage our relations", after Dutton pointed out that Canberra may support the US if they help Taiwan in a possible confrontation with China.
The tension, mainly in the trade sector, has not stopped escalating between Australia and China since 2018 and has resulted in the freezing for two years of bilateral, diplomatic relations at the highest level.
