Pentagon releases video of Chinese ship’s ‘unsafe’ maneuver near US destroyer
The U.S. Navy has released a video of what it called an “unsafe” maneuver by a Chinese navy ship, which is shown in the footage sharply cutting across the path of an American warship Saturday in the Taiwan Strait.
In the 30-second video taken by an American navy sailor aboard the USS Chung-Hoon, the Chinese naval ship overtakes the U.S. destroyer on its port side and crosses the bow with just 150 yards between the ships, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
“Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 [knots] to avoid a collision,” Indo-Pacific command said in a statement.
U.S. officials also said the People’s Republic of China naval ship crossed the bow of the USS Chung-Hoon a second time, this time at 2,000 yards.
The U.S. 7th Fleet said the USS Chung-Hoon, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was conducting a routine transit along with a Canadian vessel, the HMCS Montreal, in the Taiwan Strait, considered international waters where freedom of navigation applies.
“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined U.S.-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” officials said in the statement.
China views Taiwan as historically part of the mainland and has acted aggressively to U.S. warships and military activity in the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the U.S. of “provocations” and said the “Chinese side only responded by handling the incident in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”
“China resolutely opposes the country concerned stirring up trouble in the Taiwan Strait and is firmly determined to defend its sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability,” Wang said at a Monday press conference.
Just days prior to the encounter, a Chinese jet flew in front of a U.S. spy plane in the South China Sea.
Beijing has accused the U.S. in that incident of surveilling a naval exercise in the South China Sea, nearly all of which China claims as its own, without international recognition.
Washington criticized the Chinese jet for making an unsafe maneuver in front of its aircraft, which it said was operating across international airspace.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu attended the same conference in Singapore over the weekend but did not sit down for a talk.
Li, who had rejected a request for a meeting with Austin, said over the weekend the U.S. is provoking China with its patrols, suggesting that Americans should “mind your own business” and that military aircraft and vessels should steer clear of other nations’ territory.
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