Obama tested as Chinese vessels harass spy ship
Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific editor | March 11, 2009
CHINA has tested Barack Obama early in his presidency, with a flotilla of naval vessels surrounding and harassing a US spy ship in the South China Sea.
The incident is likely to be high on the agenda when China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visits Washington later this week, and will come up when Mr Obama meets his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at G20 talks in London next month.
The scene of the confrontation was not far from where a US spy-plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter eight years ago, soon after George W.Bush became president. The Chinese pilot was killed, the US plane made an emergency landing on China's Hainan island, and China released the 24 crew after Washington issued an apology.
The latest incident comes as China is rapidly upgrading its blue-water naval fleet, whose capacity has recently been extended with the deployment of two destroyers and a supply ship to patrol the pirate-infested waters off Somalia. The US ship involved, the Impeccable, is one of five ocean surveillance vessels with the Seventh Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan.
The Pentagon said yesterday that five Chinese vessels on Sunday "shadowed and aggressively manoeuvred in close proximity" to the Impeccable. A spokesman said the Chinese vessels had waved national flags and told the Impeccable to leave the area.
The US ship sprayed its fire hoses at one of the surrounding ships in order to encourage it to keep its distance. The US Defence Department said that in response "the Chinese crew members disrobed to their underwear, and continued closing to within eight metres".
Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV quoted a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington as saying that the US vessel "has been consistently conducting illegal surveying in China's exclusive economic zone".
Washington insists its ship was in international waters. The Impeccable, whose main mission is to monitor submarines, was sailing about 120km south of sub-tropical Hainan island, which is half the size of Tasmania.
Hainan houses the new Yulin submarine base, which could also become a key base for aircraft carriers, with the first expected to sail in five to six years. China has 57 submarines, and the first type 094 second-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine was shifted to Yulin 15 months ago.
China's security forces are on high alert due to the 50th anniversary yesterday of the flight from Tibet into exile, following a failed uprising, of the Dalai Lama, and the beginning of annual military exercises by US and South Korean troops.
The latest incident occurred only weeks after the countries resumed military talks, which Beijing had suspended after Washington announced arms sales to Taiwan last November.
The countries are in the process of establishing a military hot-line to prevent misunderstandings between their armed forces.
Many rounds of talks have been held since the 2001 Hainan confrontation in order to prevent such incidents derailing the bigger-picture relationship between the countries.
China revealed in its budget last week it would increase military spending by 14.9 per cent.
Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress, said this was modest growth, merely "enhancing the military's emergency response capabilities in disaster relief, fighting terrorism, maintaining stability and other non-war military operations".
David Lai, a professor of Asian Security Studies at the US Army War College, wrote in the latest edition of China Security that "the People's Liberation Army's move to go global is a natural outgrowth of China's expanding power".
He cited a PLA Daily editorial stressing that "China's national interests are spreading everywhere in the world, into the open seas, outer space, and even into cyberspace.
"China not only has a territorial frontier, but also an 'interest frontier' that has no national boundaries," Professor Lai said.
Obama tested as Chinese vessels harass spy ship | The Australian
Rowan Callick, Asia-Pacific editor | March 11, 2009
CHINA has tested Barack Obama early in his presidency, with a flotilla of naval vessels surrounding and harassing a US spy ship in the South China Sea.
The incident is likely to be high on the agenda when China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visits Washington later this week, and will come up when Mr Obama meets his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at G20 talks in London next month.
The scene of the confrontation was not far from where a US spy-plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter eight years ago, soon after George W.Bush became president. The Chinese pilot was killed, the US plane made an emergency landing on China's Hainan island, and China released the 24 crew after Washington issued an apology.
The latest incident comes as China is rapidly upgrading its blue-water naval fleet, whose capacity has recently been extended with the deployment of two destroyers and a supply ship to patrol the pirate-infested waters off Somalia. The US ship involved, the Impeccable, is one of five ocean surveillance vessels with the Seventh Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan.
The Pentagon said yesterday that five Chinese vessels on Sunday "shadowed and aggressively manoeuvred in close proximity" to the Impeccable. A spokesman said the Chinese vessels had waved national flags and told the Impeccable to leave the area.
The US ship sprayed its fire hoses at one of the surrounding ships in order to encourage it to keep its distance. The US Defence Department said that in response "the Chinese crew members disrobed to their underwear, and continued closing to within eight metres".
Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV quoted a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington as saying that the US vessel "has been consistently conducting illegal surveying in China's exclusive economic zone".
Washington insists its ship was in international waters. The Impeccable, whose main mission is to monitor submarines, was sailing about 120km south of sub-tropical Hainan island, which is half the size of Tasmania.
Hainan houses the new Yulin submarine base, which could also become a key base for aircraft carriers, with the first expected to sail in five to six years. China has 57 submarines, and the first type 094 second-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine was shifted to Yulin 15 months ago.
China's security forces are on high alert due to the 50th anniversary yesterday of the flight from Tibet into exile, following a failed uprising, of the Dalai Lama, and the beginning of annual military exercises by US and South Korean troops.
The latest incident occurred only weeks after the countries resumed military talks, which Beijing had suspended after Washington announced arms sales to Taiwan last November.
The countries are in the process of establishing a military hot-line to prevent misunderstandings between their armed forces.
Many rounds of talks have been held since the 2001 Hainan confrontation in order to prevent such incidents derailing the bigger-picture relationship between the countries.
China revealed in its budget last week it would increase military spending by 14.9 per cent.
Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the National People's Congress, said this was modest growth, merely "enhancing the military's emergency response capabilities in disaster relief, fighting terrorism, maintaining stability and other non-war military operations".
David Lai, a professor of Asian Security Studies at the US Army War College, wrote in the latest edition of China Security that "the People's Liberation Army's move to go global is a natural outgrowth of China's expanding power".
He cited a PLA Daily editorial stressing that "China's national interests are spreading everywhere in the world, into the open seas, outer space, and even into cyberspace.
"China not only has a territorial frontier, but also an 'interest frontier' that has no national boundaries," Professor Lai said.
Obama tested as Chinese vessels harass spy ship | The Australian
