Hummm very interesting...China flexing it's muscle?


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.

"Because the vessels' intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself," the statement said. "The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

After the Impeccable alerted the Chinese ships "in a friendly manner" that it was seeking a safe path to depart the area, two of the Chinese ships stopped "directly ahead of USNS Impeccable, forcing Impeccable to conduct an emergency 'all stop' in order to avoid collision," the statement said.

"They dropped pieces of wood in the water directly in front of Impeccable's path."

A Pentagon spokesman called the incident "one of the most aggressive actions we've seen in some time. We will certainly let Chinese officials know of our displeasure at this reckless and dangerous maneuver."

He said the Chinese crew members used poles to try to snag the Impeccable's acoustic equipment in the water.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing lodged a protest over the weekend with the Chinese government, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The Impeccable's crew is composed primarily of civilians and the ship itself is not armed, the spokesman said.

No one at the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing answered CNN's telephone calls seeking comment, and there were no stories about the incident in Chinese media.

The 281.5-foot Impeccable is one of six surveillance ships that perform military survey operations, according to the Navy. It is an oceanographic ship that gathers underwater acoustic data, using sonar.

It has a maximum speed of 13 knots -- or about 15 mph -- but it travels 3 knots, or 3.5 mph, when towing its array of monitoring equipment. It carries a crew of 20 mariners, five technicians and as many as 20 Navy personnel.

The Chinese ships involved were a Navy intelligence collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries Patrol Vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers, the statement said.

The Pentagon cited three previous instances of what it described as harassment, the first of which occurred Wednesday, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the the ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious.

In that incident, which occurred about 125 miles from China's coast in the Yellow Sea, the Chinese ship "crossed Victorious' bow at a range of about 1,400 yards" in darkness without notice or warning. The following day, a Chinese Y-12 maritime surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys of Victorious at an altitude of about 400 feet and a range of 500 yards.

The next day, a Chinese frigate approached Impeccable "and proceeded to cross its bow at a range of approximately 100 yards," which was followed less than two hours later by a Chinese Y-12 aircraft conducting 11 fly-bys of Impeccable at an altitude of 600 feet and a range of 100 to 300 feet, the statement said.

"The frigate then crossed Impeccable's bow yet again, this time at a range of approximately 400-500 yards without rendering courtesy or notice of her intentions."

And on Saturday, a Chinese intelligence collection ship challenged Impeccable over bridge-to-bridge radio, "calling her operations illegal and directing Impeccable to leave the area or 'suffer the consequences,' " the statement said.

Maybe our captain should have gone to ramming speed! China has been playing games with us for over 20 years.

Well, Tibet is now heating up for them so I hope China does not step too far over the line. Then again Obama ain't got no spine for war.

love that nana

"Because the vessels' intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself," the statement said. "The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

Shucks, all they wanted was a fresh shower.

This is because the definition of "international waters" is due for overhaul. This will be done in May.

No one likes foreign warships in what they consider as their waters.

does it strike anyone as funny that people claim the waters? i guess it's no different than claiming the air although this i can get if it is directly over something.....but seas and oceans?


i understand what is meant but it sounds funny

It wasn't funny to us, when German U-boats were laying in assault in our waters.

It doesn't sound funny to them, when we keep our whole fleets near their shores.

No one wants to claim anything at first. Just like you wouldn't want or need to claim the street, until your neighbors start parking their trucks in front of your driveway.

i'm talking about the words....not the meaning

oops, sorry, I am too serious this morning...

everyone is it seems lol

boo doesn't even see the childish humor i have saying putin lol

The US vessel was unarmed. So all they had to use was the fire hose.

Cat and mouse games are frequently played in international waters. In part because what the US see's as international waters are quite different from the boundaries others observe.

I found it interesting that The Pentagon described these incidents in the manner they did and posted this article because of that.

so who decides the boundaries?

Some background:

Head Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the Russian Federation of Ministry and Defence:

At the beginning of the 18th century, a widespread doctrine proclaimed that "the authority of the coastal nation terminates where she can no longer control it with her weaponry." From that time, the limit of sovereign authority of the maritime countries over coastal waters has become to limit by a swath, the width of which does not exceed distance of the flight of a cannonball from the shore. The average distance of flight was about 3 miles.

Outside this limit, no country could claim the seas. As we will see, this rule survives today, although the 3-mile limit has been extended.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) lays out the current rules. As of April 2006, 149 nations had ratified the LOSC. The U.S. played a major role in the drafting of the LOSC, but then decided not to sign it.

Territory still plays a big part in the law of the sea. States' territorial claims have expanded considerably since the 18th century. Two hundred miles offshore (when I say mile, I mean the nautical mile, which is 6076 feet, or 1.150779 statute miles) is the limit of a State's potential exclusive economic zone.

The next territorial boundary marks the State's potential contiguous zone, which extends 24 miles offshore. Within this zone, a coastal state can stop and inspect vessels and act to punish (or prevent) violations of its laws within its territory or territorial waters.

In 1999 President Clinton extended the U.S.'s contiguous zone from 12 to 24 miles.

The potential territorial sea extends 12 miles off the coast. Here the State has territorial jurisdiction, but only up to a point--the right of innocent passage still applies. The LOSC says:

1. The criminal jurisdiction of the coastal State should not be exercised on board a foreign ship passing through the territorial sea to arrest any person or to conduct any investigation in connection with any crime committed on board the ship during its passage, save only in the following cases:

(a) if the consequences of the crime extend to the coastal State;

(b) if the crime is of a kind to disturb the peace of the country or the good order of the territorial sea;

(c) if the assistance of the local authorities has been requested by the master of the ship or by a diplomatic agent or consular officer of the flag State; or

(d) if such measures are necessary for the suppression of illicit traffic in narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances.

Sources:
The Admiralty and Maritime Law Guide http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/

The Straight Dope
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2250/in-international-waters-are-you-beyond-the-reach-of-the-law

Traditionally, your waters go as far away from the shore as your cannons can reach. 12 miles.

There was no need for anything else, since the ship based cannons couldn't reach even that.

Then, under a pretense of others taking out natural resources, these were extended to 200 miles of economic zone.

Now, it is expected that finally, the waters may be divided further.

Don't you get getting me in more trouble missy!!

China is in need for a serious lesson on playing fair!


FREE TIBET WITH THE PURCHASE OF CHINESE MADE GOODS!

Sure!
And damage or sink our ship so she is dead in the water (defenseless) and the other Chinese can board her!

They would swear it was our fault and then start an International incident over it.

The US Navy doesn't send unarmed ships that close to unfriendly shores. More than likely the vessels were monitoring N Korea!

Yep!

It's like: What do you do when someone nags you while you're driving?

- run them over!

Right! And then pay his family civil court judgments, till you die!