China Seizes U.S. Underwater Drone From International Waters

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China Seizes U.S. Underwater Drone From International Waters, Pentagon Says

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-s-underwater-vehicle-in-international-waters

China has seized an unmanned underwater vehicle deployed by a U.S. Navy ship in international waters, according to Pentagon officials.

The seizure of the underwater vehicle took place Thursday, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement Friday.

The situation is unusual: U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told journalists there was no precedent for it in recent memory, NPR's Tom Bowman reports.

The U.S. sent radio messages requesting that the drone be returned, the Pentagon statement said, but the Chinese ship merely acknowledged the messages and ignored the request.

"We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in his statement.


The incident occurred in the long-disputed waters of the South China Sea, where several countries have various overlapping territorial claims. China has been the most aggressive in claiming the strategically and economically significant waters as its own.

map-south-china-sea-line-624.png


Satellite photos taken in the past few weeks appear to show a significant defense buildup on China's artificial islands in the South China Sea. Beijing uses the artificial islands as part of the justification for China's territorial claims — which were invalidated months ago by an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

That ruling is "legally binding, but all but impossible to enforce," as NPR's Anthony Kuhn put it at the time.

It's on now. China is flexing its muscles and the Philippines is our close ally. This could be a huge test for Trump.
 
So Obama is just going to ignore this and hope Trump can deal with it?
 
Daaaamn dude...I haven't kept up with this issue recently, but it looks like trouble! I know the US needs to keep up with their Intel and shit, but is this really an area of water we want to be deploying drones into? Seems a sure bet China would snag one eventually.
 
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