BEIJING, December 19 (ChinaMil) -- The U.S. media reported on December 14, 2013 the “confrontation of the Chinese and U.S. warships in the South China Sea”. It claimed that the U.S. cruiser USS Cowpens was sailing on December 5 in the neighborhood of the Liaoning aircraft carrier taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLAN), while a Chinese warship came forward to stop the USS Cowpens on its way at the closest distance of less than 500 meters.
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) responded on December 18 that it was just an “encounter” of the warships of China and the U.S. in the South China Sea instead of a “confrontation” as reported previously. During the encounter, the Chinese side handled the situation properly. Some of the reports were inaccurate to facts.
According to the Beijing News, Cao Weidong, researcher from the Naval Military Academic Research Institute under the PLAN, said during an interview that the navies of China and the U.S. have established a consultation mechanism of maritime safety more than a decade ago. Two meetings are held each year and a notification system in correspondence is available in order to avoid sparks of maritime conflicts.
With regards to the MND’s response to the incident that “some of the reports were inaccurate to facts”, Cao Weidong expressed that the U.S. media made at least three serious untrue statements.
First of all, China designated three areas of no-sail ban in the open waters from December 3 of 2013 to January 3 of 2014 in accordance with the international practice. Although the U.S. warship was sailing in the open waters, it intruded into the area of no-sail ban designated by China. Usually, a country announces areas of no-sail ban for two considerations: One is to avoid the weapons and ammunition in the process of exercise from causing any damage to the aircraft or vessels of other countries; the other is to avoid the training country’s electromagnetic spectrum from being detected by the other countries.
Second, the U.S. media claimed that the U.S. warship was “forced to stop” by the Chinese warships. This isn’t true either. As a matter of fact, the Chinese warship did nothing but send radio signals to the U.S. warship to remind it that it was entering the area of no-sail ban. At this time, the speed of the Chinese landing ship closest to the U.S. warship was zero and the U.S. warship passed by from the stern of the Chinese landing ship. Chinese warship didn’t pose any threat to the U.S. warship. Let along the so-called “being forced to stop” or “confrontation”. The U.S. media’s report was seriously inconsistent with the truth.
Thirdly, vessels of two countries in the international waters are subject to the international provisions of maritime collision prevention so that when the U.S. or any other country announced areas of no-sail ban, China never intruded the designated areas. Now that the U.S. warship intruded into China’s area of no-sail ban, it was an offense and disrespect to China. It’s truly an improper act.
According to a report from the Xinhua news agency on Wednesday, defense authorities of the two countries have reported relevant information to each other via normal channels and communicated effectively about the matter.
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