US, China warships in ‘unsafe’ encounter

WASHINGTON: A Chinese warship sailed within yards of an American destroyer – forcing it to change course – in an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter as the US vessel was in contested waters in the South China Sea, an official said on Monday.

The USS Decatur guided-missile destroyer was conducting what the military calls a “freedom of navigation operation” on Sunday when it passed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the remote Spratly Islands, a distance commonly accepted as constituting the territorial waters of a landmass.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea including the Spratlys, though its neighbours claim parts of it too.

During the operation, a Chinese Luyang destroyer approached the USS Decatur in “an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea”, US Pacific Fleet spokesman Commander Nate Christensen said.

Luyang then conducted “increasingly aggressive manoeuvres, and warned the Decatur to depart the area”, he added.

The Chinese “destroyer approached within 41m of Decatur’s bow, after which Decatur manoeuvered to prevent a collision”, Christensen said.

In a statement, the Chinese ministry of defence said its ship had “given a warning to leave” to the US vessel after it entered the area “without permission”.

“The US has repeatedly sent warships into the territorial waters near Chinese reefs and islands in the South China Sea.”

The behaviour “gravely threatens China’s sovereignty and security, gravely damages relations between China and the US and their militaries, and gravely injures regional peace and stability”, it said. – AFP