China has warned Australia over claims one of its warships harmed Australian divers, sparking a political war of words.

Australian authorities say a Chinese warship injured Australian military personnel from the HMAS Toowoomba off the coast of Japan last Tuesday with sonar pulses.

The Australians were operating in international waters in support of a United Nations mission when the incident happened.

The divers suffered minor injuries to their ears.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the incident dangerous and unprofessional. He also said it “does do damage” to Australia’s relationship with China.

But in a statement late on Monday, China’s defence ministry hit back. It said its navy destroyer did nothing that might affect Australian diving operations and “kept a safe distance from the Australian ship”.

Australia’s remarks on the incident were “completely inconsistent with the facts”, the ministry said.

“We urge the Australian side to respect the facts and stop making reckless and irresponsible accusations against China,” it said.

That was followed up by comments from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at a regular press briefing in Beijing. She said China’s military was “highly disciplined and we always act in accordance with international law and practice”.

Mao called for protecting “the momentum of China-Australia relations”, as ties stabilise with Beijing following Albanese’s recent trip to China to meet President Xi Jinping.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton branded China’s response “propaganda”.

“We shouldn’t abide it for a second,” he said.

“The fact is that there is aggressive behaviour taking place and our country should be calling it out.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said it didn’t bode well that China would not acknowledge what had happened.

“That is very regrettable, because if you’re not willing to acknowledge the facts, then it doesn’t speak well for your willingness to change your behaviour,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

“That’s really what we and so many other nations across the region need to see the Chinese military do, which is to change their operating protocols and their behaviour to be less confrontational.”

Not doing so increased the risk of an accident or miscalculation in the future and, in turn, “increases the risk of possible escalation with all of the devastating consequences that would bring to bear”, Birmingham said.

Albanese remains under pressure to confirm whether he directly raised the incident with Xi when they met on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

The incident was made public only after Albanese left San Francisco to return home. He has refused to detail the contents of his discussion with Xi.

“I don’t talk about private meetings on the sidelines, discussions I have with any world leader,” he said on Monday.

“It’s something that is a regrettable incident. That’s why we have put our very strong objections to China very clearly, very directly through all of the appropriate channels in all the forums that are available to us.”

But Birmingham said Albanese had been happy to talk about issues raised with Xi on his China visit.

“For him now to come back to Australia and say I won’t reveal the content of conversations is quite disingenuous and in complete conflict with the evidence,” he said.

Albanese and top ministers have said Australia’s objections have been made clear and raised with Chinese authorities.

But Dutton called for Albanese to be “open and honest” about whether he had spoken to Xi about the incident.

“If he didn’t, then he’s made a catastrophic mistake and he needs to apologise,” he said.

“If he did raise it, well, he needs to come up with a proper explanation as to why he continues to talk in riddles.”

-with AAP