By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News Chief Pentagon Correspondent, and Courtney Kube, NBC News Producer
In a dangerous high-seas game of chicken, five Chinese boats harassed and came perilously close to colliding with a U.S. Naval surveillance ship off the coast of Hainan Island Sunday, after the Chinese military ordered the ship to leave the area or "suffer the consequences." The Navy dispatched a destroyer, the USS Chung-Hoon, to the vicinity as a precaution.
Pentagon and military officials tell NBC News the unarmed USNS Impeccable surveillance ship was "operating legally in international waters," towing an underwater sonar bouy, trolling for Chinese submarines when three Chinese military ships and two Chinese trawlers began to harass the American ship.
The five Chinese vessels first surrounded the Impeccable, and one Chinese ship passed dangerously close, within 25 feet, before the two trawlers pulled to a stop directly in front of the Impeccable which "came damned close to colliding" with the Chinese ships before making an emergency stop. The crew aboard one of the Chinese ships also used a grappling hook to try to snag the tow line that was dragging the sonar bouy through the water.
After repeated attempts to reach the Chinese ships over "bridge-to-bridge" radios failed, the crew of the unarmed Impeccable took defensive measures, turning firehoses on one of the Chinese ships, at which point the Chinese crewmembers on deck stripped down to their underwear.
The incident Sunday followed a series of provocatives manuevers by Chinese ships and planes aimed at two U.S. Navy surveiilance ships:
- March 7: A PRC intelligence collection ship made a bridge to bridge call to the USNS Impeccable, calling their operations illegal and telling them to leave the area or "suffer the consequences"
- March 5: a Chinese frigate approached the USNS Impeccable, crossing its bow within about 100 yards; about 2 hours later, a Chinese Y-12 aircraft conducted 11 fly-bys at a low altitude (about 600 yards)
- March 4: a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a high intensity spotlight to harass an ocean surveillance ship, the USNS Victorious, shining it on the ship and at the crew (the ship was operating about 125 nautical miles off the coast of China); the ship then crossed the Victorious' bow in darkness without warning; finally, a Chinese Y-12 surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys at a low altitude (about 400 feet).
The Chinese have long objected to U.S. Navy surveillance ships operating off the coast of China. U.S. military officials insist the operations are legal, and in this case the Impeccable was operating in international waters at least 75 miles off the coast of Hainan Island, well outside the internationally-recognized 12-mile territorial limit. In April 2001, in a similar incident a U.S. Navy P-3 plane was on a submarine surveillance mission over the South China sea when it collided with a Chinese MIG fighter jet and was forced to make and emergency landing on Hainan Island. The Chinese Mig crashed into the sea and the pilot was killed. The Chinese held the 24 Navy crewmembers for 11 days before releasing them, but refused to allow the U.S. to repair and fly the P-3 off the island. The P-3 was instead dismantled, returned in pieces to the U.S. where it was reassembled and returned to service.
The U.S. is expected to lodge a protest over the incident, but there may not be much public outcry from the U.S. government. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs would only say today that "We are going to continue to operate in those international waters and we expect the Chinese to observe international laws around them." At a time when the Obama administration is attempting to cozy up to China diplomatically, it appears the administration has no desire to make any sizeable waves over this issue.
