Chinese Vessels Harass US Navy Ship

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of "increasingly aggressive conduct" in the past week. The Pentagon says the USNS Impeccable, a surveillance ship, was on routine patrol in the South China Sea. The Pentagon says the USNS Impeccable, a surveillance ship, was on routine patrol in the South China Sea.

During the incident, five Chinese vessels "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon said in a written statement.

The crew members aboard the vessels, two of which were within 50 feet, waved Chinese flags and told the U.S. ship to leave the area, the statement said.

CNN.com

It sounds like the Chinese are getting just a bit more aggressive. I am well aware that they popped up 2 nuclear submarines in the middle of our fleet during naval exercises a few years ago, but coupled with the aggressive posturing by N. Korea, I think they might be testing Obama.



The Chinese vessels circled the US Navy Ship, waved Chinese flags, told the ship to leave the international waters of the South China Sea, mooned the vessel (yes its true, haha), cut the vessel off when it tried to leave, threw large wood planks in its path, and tried to use gaff hooks to take the vessel's sonar equipment from the water.

The Impeccable is pretty much an underwater research vessel, which I assume gathers both undersea topographical data as well as data on submarine operations in the area.

Here's some info on the sonar system it has from the Navy's website:

Impeccable has a more powerful propulsion plant and is designed specifically for deploying two towed-array sonar systems -- a passive system, which listens for acoustic information, and an active system which emits a low frequency and works in conjunction with the passive system to gather acoustic data.

Navy.mil



I'm not really surprised, but the Chinese government had no comment and offered no apology for the incident.

One of the most interesting part of the article was the statement that this event was one of the "latest of several instances of 'increasingly aggressive conduct' in the past week." I don't recall seeing any other news reports on incidents of Chinese aggression in the past week, could they (Pentagon) be withholding information on additional encounters?

Could they be doing it because these encounters were a bit more serious?

Do you think it's possible that North Korea and China coordinated a more aggressive stance against the U.S. ?

It's also interesting that China would become more aggressive because they are the #1 primary holder of U.S. Foreign Debt.



Is this just toying with the Obama Administration, or could it possibly be something bigger, maybe a sign of things to come?

-Jips

[edit on 9-3-2009 by JipStix]

This is my take on it.

The ship-civilian crew (mostly) "WAS" in international waters-this makes it practically an act of war.

The reality of it is "probably" it was using sonar equipment to track Chinese subs.

I wonder how the chinese would like it if 4 American vessels surrounded a chines ship and blocked it way????
I am betting they would not be happy.

well the simple fact is every time a ship goes near American waters it's a major news event -

Russian Ship Sails Through Panama Canal
Russia holding "war games" in Venezuela
and even the fact that china is moving outside it's own coast makes news
CHINA: Navy will build up its blue water capabilities

America has tried to keep everyone away from her waters while medaling incessantly in other peoples, this was quite clearly some form of spy ship -most likely tracking subs, capturing communications or something like that, America seems to think it has a right to do these things while stopping people doing the same to them -nothing but political posturing of course but we shouldn't fall for it.

Now as to the geopolitical significance, with the recent build up of a blue water navy and involvement in international affairs China is showing that she's finally flowering as a super power, for a long time China has been rather quiet on the world stage while she worked on creating a stable home, much like America during it's isolationist age, which of course ended with ww2. However now she seems to be waking up and stretching her arms, pushing away the cobwebs which have developed and firmly installing her sphere of influence.

I think china is testing America, by pushing ships out she'll force America to complain then when the US says 'we can't do our job...' China will say, 'what is your mission anyway? can't be important and beside look we've got some security issues (Taiwan most likely) and Pirates plus we're doing research which your outdated sonar would ruin so we need to have control of these waters -why don't you protect america and 'research' those waters? We'll look after china' --Some classic political wrangling.

Thus china will be able to take full control of their portion of the world but weather america is foolish enough to try and fight for the right to troll the china seas or gracefully welcomes their help in combating 'terrorism' 'piracy' and forwarding 'unity' in 'shared research' and 'greater understanding' is probably what will decide if the stock market ever recovers.


#oh and sorry if my england to so not good, much learning is very hard for me in china information ministry working long night. --hehe only joking i'm not a agent of the peoples republic, honest. CHINA WILL GROW STRONGER!!!!1

[edit on 9-3-2009 by NatureBoy]