Rising navy, assertiveness behind China flap

[unhappycamper]

Rising navy, assertiveness behind China flap
By Christopher Bodeen - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 11, 2009 16:42:05 EDT

BEIJING — China’s weekend scrap with a U.S. Navy surveillance ship is drawing attention to a new submarine base that Beijing is using to strengthen its presence on the strategically vital South China Sea, which it claims as a whole.

U.S. claims that the the Navy mapping ship Impeccable was operating legally when it was harassed by Chinese boats in international waters about 75 miles off China’s southern island province of Hainan. China’s foreign ministry has said the U.S. claim isn’t true.

In Washington on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged from a private meeting to say the countries agreed on the need to reduce tensions and avoid a repeat of the confrontation.

But neither side yielded in their conflicting versions of events — indicating neither side was prepared to back down, even as they prepare for a much-anticipated first meeting between Hu and President Barack Obama at next month’s G20 summit in London.

Defense Department officials say the Impeccable was on a mission to seek out threats such as submarines and was towing a sonar apparatus that scans and listens for subs, mines and torpedoes. With its numerous Chinese military installations, Hainan offers rich hunting for such surveillance.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_china_navy_031109/%2e