China's Xinhua News Agency rebuked Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott after the latter praised Japan's military prowess in World War II during his address to the parliament also attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.

In his speech, Abbott spoke of his admiration of the war skills of the Japanese submariners who were killed in Sydney in 1942.

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"Even at the height of World War II, Australia gave the Japanese submariners killed in the attack on Sydney full military honors," he said.

"We admired the skill and the sense of honor that they brought to their task although we disagreed with what they did. Perhaps we grasped, even then, that with a change of heart the fiercest of opponents could be the best of friends."

In a commentary by state-run Xinhua News, it described Abbott's remarks as "insensible" and claimed that it ignored the plight of China and other conquered nations who had suffered from the "advanced war skills of Japanese troops and their sense of honor."

It said that it was unlikely Abbott knew of other skills the Japanese troops possessed - that is, "skills to loot, to rape, to torture and to kill."

"All these had been committed under the name of 'honor' almost 70 years ago."

The commentary also touched on Japan's attempt to lift the ban on collective self-defense when it questioned Abbott's description of Japan as "a first-class international citizen."

The state-run news agency said that it was likely Japan owed its positive international reputation to its pacifist constitution and surmised whether Japan would be able to maintain that reputation once Abe and his cabinet manage to lift military restrictions.

In recent months, Beijing has increased attempts to campaign against Tokyo's brutality and aggression during the Second World War most notably when the former wants to make a point about "contemporary geopolitics," said Rana Mitter, Chinese history and politics professor at Oxford University.

China's aggression in declaring sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu in Chinese) in the East China Sea have also increased tensions with Japan and worsened by Abe's push to lift the collective self-defense ban.

While Australia and Japan continuously work to strengthen what they both referred to as a "special" relationship, Abbott says he is not worried that it would hurt relations with China, its biggest trade partner.

"We want a better friendship with Japan, and I think pretty obviously we are getting that. But we also want a better friendship with China," he said.

"I am still reasonably optimistic we will succeed there. We want better friendships with everyone."

TagsXinhua, Tony Abbott, Australia, Senkaku island, Diaoyu Island, collective self-defense, China-Japan relations, China-Australia relations, Japan-Australia relations