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China's Navy seizes American underwater drone in South China Sea
Yahoo News ^ | 16 Dec 2016 | Phil Stewart

Posted on 12/16/2016 9:04:21 AM PST by mandaladon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese Navy warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by an American oceanographic vessel in international waters in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest

from the United States and a demand for its return, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Friday.

The incident, the first of its kind in recent memory, took place on Dec. 15 northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve the unmanned, underwater vehicle (UUV), the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," the official said.

"It's a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water - that it was U.S. property."

The Chinese seizure will add to concerns about China's growing military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts.

A U.S. think tank reported this week that new satellite imagery indicated that China has installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea.

The seized underwater drone was part of an unclassified program to collect oceanographic data, including salinity, temperature and clarity of the water, the official added.

Such data can help inform U.S. military sonar data, since sound is affected by such factors.

The United States issued the formal demarche, as such protests are known, through diplomatic channels and included a demand that China immediately return the underwater drone.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: china; drone; obama; southchinasea; trump
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To: Popman

They will only test him ONCE...that will be the end of it...

You look at who Trump has put where...that should explain what he plans on doing...


61 posted on 12/16/2016 10:25:59 AM PST by HarleyLady27 ('THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!' Trump/Pence: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Sinking might be a bit much. Maybe it could become in desperate need of repairs, towed to port and then scrapped for economic reasons. Perhaps there will be some major engine damage in that ship’s future?


62 posted on 12/16/2016 10:32:11 AM PST by relee (Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away)
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To: mandaladon

If Obama waits until Trump gets into office. This will only give Trump an excuse to change the trade agreements.


63 posted on 12/16/2016 10:32:45 AM PST by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: mandaladon

Spying on the Chinks’ own backyard...


64 posted on 12/16/2016 10:33:28 AM PST by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Oatka
Too bad it wouldn't detonate when they tried to open it up.

IIUC, it's not a piece of military hardware.

65 posted on 12/16/2016 10:36:26 AM PST by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: mandaladon

They were just looking for Amelia Earhart’s plane.


66 posted on 12/16/2016 10:44:43 AM PST by donozark (Attention Bella and Gigi Hadid: PLEASE stop fighting over me!)
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To: mandaladon
Let's see what Zero does now.

That's an easy one. He will blame it on Trump and his acceptance of a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese Leader.

67 posted on 12/16/2016 10:55:51 AM PST by kabar
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To: mandaladon

He’ll apologize, then beg for them to return it. He’s got to have a safe place to escape to.


68 posted on 12/16/2016 10:59:47 AM PST by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: mandaladon

Zero probably told them to do it.


69 posted on 12/16/2016 11:06:20 AM PST by TruthBeforeAll
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To: nathanbedford
He will no doubt refrain from making this charge publicly but have his surrogates blame Trump and claim this is a reaction by China to the "offensive" telephone call with Taiwan.

In that he will probably be right but we ought not to believe that we are dealing with the real problem in this tit-for-tat but only the symptoms of an increasingly aggressive and lawless China. We make a phone call, they steal. The left will use this as evidence that Trump is ignorant and clumsy in matters of diplomacy and international relations and therefore a danger in the Oval Office.

Prediction. The MSM will provide him with a huge softball question at his press conference today making the linkage for him. Obama will respond that Presidents must be careful in their actions and use of words to avoid any misunderstandings, especially with our relationship with the PRC. He will say that this does not excuse China's actions, but we must avoid precipitating such actions.

It is BS to claim that the PRC action is linked to the telephone conversation. It is a linkage that Obama and the MSM want to make to avoid the other actions that the PRC has already taken without any push back by us.

Less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Taiwan’s president over the phone, China flew a pair of long-range nuclear-capable bombers around Taiwan for the first time.

On Nov. 26, two Chinese Xian H-6 bombers, along with two escort planes, a Tupolev Tu-154 and Shaanxi Y-8, flew around the island of Taiwan from mainland China, taking off and landing from two separate Chinese military bases.

The escort jets were used to collect radar information and conduct other surveillance on American allies such as Japan. The Chinese bombers stayed in international airspace, according to officials.

70 posted on 12/16/2016 11:07:31 AM PST by kabar
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To: mandaladon

Maybe he get the poodles at Media Watch to put out a fake news rumor that the Russians hacked the drone’s navigation system?


71 posted on 12/16/2016 11:10:04 AM PST by HLPhat (It takes a Republic TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS - not a populist Tyranny of the Majority)
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To: mandaladon

They call that ‘Piracy’.


72 posted on 12/16/2016 11:11:41 AM PST by Tallguy
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

73 posted on 12/16/2016 11:19:21 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

74 posted on 12/16/2016 11:21:18 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: kabar
I was unaware of these provocative flights so I am altering my supposition to agree with your assessment, China is on the prod quite apart from whatever telephone calls Trump might have made.

The parallel with Russian overflights cannot be escaped and we are increasingly being confronted with the potential for a close Russian/Chinese axis, possibly with connection to Iran, parts of Iraq and parts of Syria which would be strategically threatening indeed and likely to terrify our allies.

If that axis forms, it will be imperative that we hold our allies in line and that will be no easy undertaking considering the pusillanimous nature of our friends in NATO. In Asian waters, Fox's just reported that the president of the Philippines has ordered the American military out.

Can you imagine if Trump had not been elected?


75 posted on 12/16/2016 11:31:11 AM PST by nathanbedford (attack, repeat, attack! Bull Halsey)
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To: Henderson

The Obama Admin is also good at hashtag campaigns and strongly worded letters to the UN.


76 posted on 12/16/2016 11:32:28 AM PST by Tea Party Terrorist (Why work for a living when you can vote for a living?)
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To: LOC1

Next time leave some dummies made up precisely for that. Have fun losing your key engineers who were dismantling it.


77 posted on 12/16/2016 11:33:20 AM PST by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: mandaladon

Let’s see what Zero does now...


#pleasegiveusbackourunderwaterdrone


78 posted on 12/16/2016 11:42:14 AM PST by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: Henderson

Actually, as I type this, he’s doing other things he’s good at: lying, stroking his ego and going on vacay.


79 posted on 12/16/2016 11:43:43 AM PST by Moonlighter
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To: OldSmaj
I understand he's trying to get in touch with Dirk Pitt.

Quick. Look up "NUMA" in the DC phonebook...

80 posted on 12/16/2016 11:44:37 AM PST by Rio (Proud resident of the State of Jefferson)
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