China denies Trump’s claim of drone theft

Beijing says US president-elect’s remark is ‘not accurate’ and that it has to check and verify the device before returning it

BEIJING // China yesterday rejected US president-elect Donald Trump’s claim that it had stolen an American research drone, as state media said his diplomatic inexperience could spark a confrontation between the two countries.

Beijing’s seizure of the marine drone in international waters in the South China Sea raised already heightened tensions between the world’s two largest military powers.

On Sunday, after Beijing and Washington announced the unmanned device would be returned, Mr Trump tweeted: “We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back – let them keep it!”

His accusation that China had stolen the drone was “not accurate”, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

“Imagine that you found something on the street – you would need to first check and verify it before handing it back to someone else,” she said.

Ms Hua said the two sides “are in smooth communication through military channels, and we believe the incident will be properly handled”. She gave no further details.

The Pentagon said on Friday that a Chinese vessel had unlawfully grabbed the drone about 50 nautical miles north-west of Subic Bay in the Philippines.

China said the drone had been snatched because it might pose a safety hazard to other vessels.

It also said it “strongly opposed” US reconnaissance activities and had asked Washington to stop them.

The US said the device was collecting information on water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity. In a tweet on Saturday, Mr Trump accused Beijing of theft.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters? rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act,” he wrote.

The state-owned China Daily newspaper rejected the claim in an editorial.

“What is truly amazing about this tweet was the soon-to-be US president completely misrepresented what had actually hap- pened – that is more dangerous than funny,” it said.

Mr Trump’s behaviour “could easily drive China-US relations into what [US president Barack] Obama portrays as ‘full-conflict mode’”, it said, next to a cartoon that depicted Mr Trump riding a bull into a china shop while US businessmen looked on aghast.

A separate article quoted experts as calling Mr Trump’s behaviour “diplomatically inept”. Mr Trump has already angered Beijing by questioning long-standing US policy on Taiwan, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and threatening punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. “Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month. He bears no sense of how to lead a superpower,” the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial.

There are broader tensions in the South China Sea, where China has moved to fortify its claims on the region by expanding tiny reefs and islets into artificial islands hosting military facilities.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have competing claims in the waterway.

Manila described the latest incident as troubling and said it might require the US, its ally, to inform it about drone movements in Philippine waters. Defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Manila had been unaware of the drone’s presence, adding that the incident increased chances of miscalculations that could lead to “open confrontation”.

“This incident in our exclusive economic zone and very near our territorial waters is very troubling,” he said yesterday. Although the US takes no position on sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, it has repeatedly stressed freedom of navigation.

‘ Trump bears no sense of how to lead a superpower Global Times newspaper editorial