Pentagon: Chinese Ships Harassed U.S. Naval Ship in International Waters
March 9, 2009 by national
Filed under World Report
The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.
The Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of “increasingly aggressive” acts by Chinese ships in the region.
U.S. officials said a protest was to be delivered to Beijing’s military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday.
[....]
A Chinese intelligence ship and four others surrounded the USNS Impeccable, an unarmed vessel with a civilian merchant marine crew, as the craft conducted ocean surveys in international waters in the South China Sea, the Defense Department said in a statement.
The Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense department said.
“We expect Chinese ships to act responsibly and refrain from provocative activities that could lead to miscalculation or a collision at sea, endangering vessels and the lives of U.S. and Chinese mariners,” Upton said.
via Fox News
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What the hell was the US doing off the coast of China? they should be grateful that the chinese navy did not fire on the ‘civilian’ navy ship (whatever that oxymoron means).
If some other country was spying off the coast of California, you can be sure that Americans would be angry too.
The US should also be grateful that China is funding her stimulus package by buying more treasury bond.
Angry, The USNS are used for reserch and operating in international waters. Do your home work and find out what the laws are for any ship of any nation can do within these waters!!!
They can be upset with us, but there are better ways to make their objections known rather than harras civilian ships. Take it up with the government. Have them direct the civiians as to what they can and can not do. There is no need to endanger all envolved, and certainly no need for an international incident.
How disturbing! To be accosted at sea by partially clothed Chinese mariners! Those devious commies! No wonder Americans feel terrorized by the Yellow Threat! I myself nearly died laughing! Was anyone mooned?
My sentiments are those of Angry. Having done my homework, it would then not be considered a threat to the U.S.A. for a chinese naval vessel with “Civilians” on Board to park 12 miles of the California coast in international waters and “conduct Research”. what a disguise. It is blatant disrespect to the sovereignity of any country for this to happen. What would the response of the U.S. Navy be you think?
Guys.. theres a few things ya’ll gota think about:
1. What do you think the US reaction would be if China steered a “Civilian RESEARCH ship” just of the coast of Cali?
2. The fact that this article is from Fox news, did you guys even think about listening to the other side of the story? No? Oh yeh because Fox news is definately the best source for perfectly unbiased news. Be objective before you comment, because fox may not have reported everything.
3. Imagine the states keeps this up, and China decides to stop buying ALL T-bills and withdraws the billions of debt owed by the US. Whos the ultimate loser?
I don’t think the US would take the risk of diplomatic instability to go survey some random Chinese waters. I also don’t think China needs a international comfrontation as that is probably not the primary concern right now. A genuine misunderstanding between the two then?
For the time being, China has to be nice to America. The Chinese economy is still not capable of sustaining a reasonable growth rate without US consumption. That is the very reason that the United States recession causes a global recession. Almost every other country depends on the US to consume its products.
Having said that, times are beginning to change. With the rate at which China is growing, within five years, the Chinese economy will likely grow to a point where they could choose to sacrifice the United States’ product hungry consumers. At that point in time they could very easily choose to stop purchasing treasuries.
If they did so, the American dollar and American economy would certainly suffer catastrophic damage. This one act alone would most certainly dwarf the economic damage caused by the housing crisis. It would be especially devastating if we were still trying to recover form our current economic recession. It very easily could divide the world into two very hostile groups of countries just like it was during the cold war.
If that happened, the United states and the European Union would be forced to institute a new currency.
I think that the Chinese realize that they already have the power to do this to the United States if they chose to. But, because their own economy cannot thrive without us, it is a deterrent to upsetting the balance.
It is like possessing nuclear weapons without ever intending to use them. It would mean certain mutually assured destruction.