Trump: US should let China keep drone
We don’t need the drone they stole back — US President-elect
WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday on Twitter the United States should let China keep the US Navy’s unmanned underwater glider that it seized in the South China Sea.
“We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back. Let them keep it!”
Trump tweeted a few hours after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the underwater glider.
Trump’s evening tweet may extend one of the most serious incidents between the American and the Chinese militaries in years.
The Chinese Navy on Thursday seized the drone, which the Pentagon said was being operated by civilian contractors to con-
It was not immediately known what effect, if any, the President-elect’s tweet would have on the agreement with the Chinese
duct oceanic research.
The US lodged a formal diplomatic complaint and demanded the drone back.
Unclassified scientific data
According to the Pentagon, the drone was seized on Thursday while collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety.
The US demanded the drone back, calling it an “unlawful seizure” in international waters. China said its military seized the underwater glider to ensure the safe navigation of passing ships but would give it back.
It was not immediately known what effect, if any, the President-elect’s tweet would have on the agreement with the Chinese.
The evening tweet was the second time the President-elect injected himself into the controversy through Twitter on Saturday.
Misspelling “unprecedented,” he tweeted on Saturday morning: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act.”
He later reissued the tweet, correcting the spelling.
Relations already were tense between the US and China following Trump’s decision to talk by phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2.
He later said he did not feel “bound by a one-China policy” regarding the status of Taiwan, unless the US could gain trade or other benefits from China.
The USNS Bowditch, which is not a combat ship, was stopped in international waters Thursday afternoon and recovering two of the gliders when the Chinese ship approached, Davis said. The two vessels were within about 450 meters of each other. He said the USNS Bowditch carries some small arms, but that no shots were fired.
According to the Pentagon, as the Chinese ship left with the drone, which is about three meters long, its only radio response to the US vessel was, “We are returning to normal operations.”
Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the seizure of the glider occurred inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, not China, and appeared to be a violation of international law.
China considers the self-governing island its own territory to be recovered by force if it deems necessary.