Sino-US tensions escalate after seizure of American drone in South China Sea

Washington has protested to Beijing over the seizure of a US Navy under­water drone by the Chinese navy in the South China Sea, marking a sharp escalation in already rising tensions between the two countries.

A US defence official said the device was grabbed as it was being operated by the USNS Bowditch, a survey vessel.

The Obama administration issued a formal démarche after the incident, the most dramatic recent flashpoint between the US and China in the South China Sea, where disputes over islands and resources have become a geopolitical faultline and prompted friction between the two countries’ navies.

It also came after president-elect ­Donald Trump appeared to challenge Beijing by speaking on the phone with the president of Taiwan and suggesting he would consider abandoning US policy over the island if China did not make concessions to the US on other issues, including the South China Sea.

“This is the opening shot, the first part of the Chinese response to push back against Trump over Taiwan,” said Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington. “It is likely that this was a very well choreographed decision from the top.”

US officials said the Bowditch had been operating in international waters 50 nautical miles off the Philippines. The drone, used for oceanographic data, was waiting to be retrieved. A Chinese naval vessel launched a small boat that picked up the glider. A radio request for its return was ignored.

“We call upon China to return our UUV [drone] immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law,” said Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary.

US officials believe that the Chinese have deliberately tried to test the resolve of the past two incoming presidents. In 2001, less than three months after George W Bush took office, a collision between an American EP-3 reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet led to the Chinese impounding the US aircraft and its crew for two weeks.

Two months after Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, the USS Impeccable was harassed by a series of Chinese naval, coast guard and fishing vessels. The US issued a formal protest at the time about what it called “unprofessional” Chinese conduct, while the Chinese government denied the US claims.

 

f