Close call off South China Sea

[BeatleBoot]

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/09/1829183.aspx


In a dangerous high-seas game of chicken, five Chinese boats harassed and came perilously close to colliding with a U.S. Naval surveillance ship off the coast of Hainan Island Sunday, after the Chinese military ordered the ship to leave the area or "suffer the consequences." The Navy dispatched a destroyer, the USS Chung-Hoon, to the vicinity as a precaution.

Pentagon and military officials tell NBC News the unarmed USNS Impeccable surveillance ship was "operating legally in international waters," towing an underwater sonar bouy, trolling for Chinese submarines when three Chinese military ships and two Chinese trawlers began to harass the American ship.

The five Chinese vessels first surrounded the Impeccable, and one Chinese ship passed dangerously close, within 25 feet, before the two trawlers pulled to a stop directly in front of the Impeccable which "came damned close to colliding" with the Chinese ships before making an emergency stop. The crew aboard one of the Chinese ships also used a grappling hook to try to snag the tow line that was dragging the sonar bouy through the water.

After repeated attempts to reach the Chinese ships over "bridge-to-bridge" radios failed, the crew of the unarmed Impeccable took defensive measures, turning firehoses on one of the Chinese ships, at which point the Chinese crewmembers on deck stripped down to their underwear.

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[theoldman]

1. Now that we have heard one side of the story, I would

like to hear the other side of the story. As I said in an earlier post. what we probably had was Spy versus Spy.

[MADem]

2. Ain't that special? It reminds me of the "chicken" games during the Cold War era with the Russkies

The Chinese seem to want to "push" to see if we've got a wussy/weakling Commander in Chief. That sort of taunting is profoundly rude, to say nothing of dangerous.


They pulled the same shit with Bush in 2001....remember the P-3 that their jet ran into, which required the P-3 to do an emergency landing and we lost a shitload of intel as a consequence? They held the crew for awhile, too. This article mentions that:

In April 2001, in a similar incident a U.S. Navy P-3 plane was on a submarine surveillance mission over the South China sea when it collided with a Chinese MIG fighter jet and was forced to make and emergency landing on Hainan Island. The Chinese Mig crashed into the sea and the pilot was killed. The Chinese held the 24 Navy crewmembers for 11 days before releasing them, but refused to allow the U.S. to repair and fly the P-3 off the island. The P-3 was instead dismantled, returned in pieces to the U.S. where it was reassembled and returned to service.

The U.S. is expected to lodge a protest over the incident, but there may not be much public outcry from the U.S. government. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs would only say today that "We are going to continue to operate in those international waters and we expect the Chinese to observe international laws around them." At a time when the Obama administration is attempting to cozy up to China diplomatically, it appears the administration has no desire to make any sizeable waves over this issue.

Of course, they weren't aware that Bush was a vindictive, war-starting sumbitch at the time.

I wonder what sort of message Secretary Clinton will be tasked to deliver to those clowns?

[theoldman]

3. What do you think we would do if a Chinese ship was doing

the same thing near our coast? We would shit in our pants first and then protest. How could any country do to us what we are doing to them.

[MADem]

4. We'd do what we always do in that circumstance--and it ain't THAT.

We do NOT harrass, obstruct or endanger vessels on the open sea. That's a stupid suggestion. This kind of probing DOES happen all the time off our coast, and we handle it PROFESSIONALLY--not by playing bullshit, bullying, dangerous games.

We'd fly over them and warn them, we'd come alongside and hail/warn them, and if they crossed the line we might even stop, board and even impound them (unlikely, but it could happen), but that kind of bullshit in INTERNATIONAL WATERS to an unarmed vessel is just not on. You don't steer vessels in front of other vessels with way on to try to cause them to collide with your vessels--that's fucking idiotic and WRONG. It contravenes international maritime law, too. There's NO justification for that kind of unprofessional and dangerous behavior.

I can't believe you're defending these fucking assholes and trying to suggest we'd pull that kind of unprofessional shit. You couldn't be more wrong about what we'd do. What they did is poor maritime form and against international law.

They should be ashamed of themselves and they should be sanctioned for their conduct, too. They endangered lives and property in international waters--that's just NOT acceptable.

[BeatleBoot]

5. Got to agree

It is stupid and unprofessional.

And way out of line.

I am glad we have cooler heads in the White House.

[AndyTiedye]

6. I Thought This Part Was Funny

the crew of the unarmed Impeccable took defensive measures, turning firehoses on one of the Chinese ships, at which point the Chinese crewmembers on deck stripped down to their underwear