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.

The Chinese have acknowledged the demarche but not responded to it, the official added. </s> 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 US asked China to “immediately” return its unmanned naval probe in international waters in the South China Sea which it alleged has been “unlawfully” seized by them. “Using appropriate government-to-government channels, the Department of Defense has called upon China to immediately return an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that China unlawfully seized on December 15 in the South China Sea while it was being recovered by a US Navy oceanographic survey ship,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

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

The Chinese have acknowledged the demarche but not responded to it, the official added. </s> The Chinese navy has seized an unmanned U.S. underwater survey drone in international waters in the South China Sea, prompting a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return Friday, in a confrontation likely to exacerbate already rising tensions.

Thursday’s seizure was the first of its kind in recent memory, and took place about 50 nautical miles (93 km) from Subic Bay in the Philippines as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

The move coincided with a rise in saber-rattling from Chinese state media and its military establishment after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized Beijing over the South China Sea and the nearly four-decade-old U.S. policy of recognizing Taiwan as part of “one China.”

The Pentagon confirmed the incident and said the drone used commercially available technology that sold for about $150,000. Despite this, the Defense Department viewed the Chinese move as serious since it had effectively stolen U.S. military property.

“It is ours, and it is clearly marked as ours and we would like it back. And we would like this not to happen again,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said, adding that the incident had occurred within a 500-yard (457-meter) area.

The Defense Department said the Bowditch and the drone — an unclassified “ocean glider” system used around the world to gather military oceanographic data such as salinity, water temperature, and sound speed — were conducting routine operations in accordance with international law when a Chinese navy Dalang-3 submarine rescue vessel launched a small boat and intercepted the UUV.

The Pentagon said the Bowditch made contact with the Chinese navy ship via bridge-to-bridge radio to request the return of the UUV. This contact was acknowledged by the Chinese vessel, but the request was ignored.

“As (the Chinese ship) went sailing off into distance, (it) said, ‘We are returning to normal operations,’ ” Davis said.

“We need to find out what the Chinese have to say about it,” he added. “It’s certainly not something we consider to be commensurate with their level as a professional military.”

In a statement released later, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the swiped drone was “a sovereign immune vessel of the United States.”

“We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law.”

“Although the drone was not conducting a military operation, disrupting and then stealing the naval platform — which has sovereign immune status — is one of the most brazen actions that the People’s Liberation Army Navy has taken against the U.S. Navy for a very long time,” said Ashley Townshend, a research fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

The seizure will add to growing concerns over China’s increasingly bellicose moves in the region.

It will also be a top issue for Trump, who campaigned on a pledge of extracting more favorable trade deals from China and has stoked anger in Beijing by taking a phone call from Taiwan’s president and slamming China for building what he called a “massive military complex” in the South China Sea.

Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that Thursday’s seizure could be linked to Trump’s war of words with Beijing.

“It cannot be ruled out that this action was a deliberate signal to the incoming Trump administration, which the Chinese see as challenging their core interests on Taiwan,” Glaser said. “They have five weeks to persuade Trump to buy into the framework that has prevailed under (U.S. President Barack ) Obama — cooperate where U.S. and Chinese interests overlap and manage/control differences where our interests diverge.”

Experts say Chinese naval and coast guard vessels typically operate within the bounds of guidelines that are centrally dictated by officials in Beijing, meaning incidents such as this one may have been sanctioned by the leadership.

“This, of course, does not mean that all actions are deliberate,” said Townshend. “Unsanctioned behavior by overly assertive ship operators or local military commands has occasionally taken place, and could account for this latest provocation.”

Deliberate or not, experts said the move was unheard of in recent years as Washington and Beijing worked to prevent repeats of similar confrontations at sea and in the air while also building up a string of outposts in the South China Sea from which to project power.

Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway, through which more than $5 trillion in annual trade passes. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have rival claims.

It has reclaimed more than 1,280 hectares (3,200 acres) of land on seven features it occupies in the disputed Spratly chain. In July, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s expansive claims to much of the waters, a ruling Beijing criticized as “waste paper.”

The last major confrontation between the U.S. and China similar to Thursday’s happened in 2013, when a Chinese ship nearly collided with the USS Cowpens guided-missile cruiser after cutting in front of it from a distance of just 100 yards (meters).

“What we do know is this: China’s seizure of an American underwater drone is unprecedented,” Townshend said. “Over the past two years, Beijing has deliberately avoided risky or provocative tactical behavior in order to minimize the risk of a U.S.-China maritime crisis while it constructs a network of military outposts throughout the South China Sea.

“The incident on Thursday stands in stark contrast to China’s otherwise very cautious maritime behavior,” he added.

The move also comes just on the heels of a report released Wednesday detailing a “significant” build-up by China of anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems on all seven of its man-made islands in the strategic waterway’s Spratly chain.

That revelation came despite a pledge last year by Chinese President Xi Jinping not to “militarize” the islands in the waters.

Beijing said it was “legitimate and lawful” for it to place defensive military equipment on islands where it had “indisputable sovereignty.”

“If someone was at the door of your home, cocky and swaggering, how could it be that you wouldn’t prepare a slingshot?” the Chinese Defense Ministry said Thursday in response to the report. The comments were likely in reference to U.S. “freedom of navigation” operations in the waters that have angered China. The last such operation came in October.

With Trump set to take office in just over a month on Jan. 20, the charged atmosphere in the area is unlikely to abate any time soon.

“Against a background of rising tensions in the South China Sea and Trump’s increasingly hawkish comments on China policy, this incident will be a serious test for U.S.-China relations,” Townshend said. </s> WASHINGTON - 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.

The Chinese have acknowledged the demarche but not responded to it, the official added. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish) </s> The seized drone was deployed by an American oceanographic vessel. (Photo: Twitter)

Washington: 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 US defense official told Reuters on Friday.

The incident, the first of its kind in recent memory, took place on December 15 north-west 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 US 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 US 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 US 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.

The Chinese have acknowledged the demarche but not responded to it, the official added. </s> China has returned the Navy unmanned underwater vehicle it seized last week in the South China Sea in an incident the U.S. is calling illegal and unprofessional.

The Yokosuka-based destroyer USS Mustin received the underwater drone in the same area, about 50 miles northwest of the Philippines’ Subic Bay, where a Chinese ship “unlawfully seized” it on Dec. 15, according to a Pentagon statement Tuesday.

The USNS Bowditch, a Military Sealift Command vessel, had been recovering two underwater gliders used to collect ocean data when a Chinese navy salvage ship pulled within 500 yards, launched a small boat and seized one of them in international waters, the Pentagon said.

“This incident was inconsistent with both international law and standards of professionalism for conduct between navies at sea,” the statement said.

Chinese state-run media reports have criticized the U.S. for conducting “close-in surveillance” within the South China Sea, which Beijing claims most of as its own. The Chinese Communist Party newspaper The People’s Daily said the drone was found in “Chinese jurisdictional waters.”

The drone was seized and the handover completed within the Philippines exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, the Defense Department said.

“The seized UUV is a sovereign immune vessel of the U.S. Navy which was conducting routine operations in the international waters of the South China Sea in full compliance with international law,” the Pentagon said Tuesday.

EEZs comprise about a third of the world’s oceans and are open to navigation. Most countries consider them open to surveillance activities under international maritime law, though a few countries, such as China, have raised objections.

However, Chinese vessels operate their own underwater drones, and their intelligence ships have routinely been reported within U.S. EEZs off Guam, Hawaii and Alaska, according to previous Navy reports.

The U.S. is continuing to investigate the incident and will discuss the findings with China, said the statement, which also called on the Chinese to “refrain from further efforts to impede lawful U.S. activities.”

China’s claims to hundreds of rocks, reefs and small islands within the South China Sea have stoked tensions in recent years with its neighbors, several of whom hold competing claims. China has dumped more than 3,000 acres of landfill on its claimed reefs, topping them with weapons, radar and military-capable runways, according to Pentagon reports and satellite imagery. </s> China has returned a U.S. underwater drone taken by one of its naval vessels in the disputed South China Sea last week after what it said were friendly talks with the United States, which reiterated its criticism of the “unlawful” seizure.

The taking of the unmanned underwater vehicle in international waters near the Philippines triggered a diplomatic protest and speculation about whether it would strengthen U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s hand as he seeks a tougher line with China.

A Chinese naval ship took the drone, which the Pentagon says uses unclassified, commercially available technology to collect oceanographic data, on Thursday about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines.

China’s defence ministry said in a brief statement the drone had been given back to the United States on Tuesday. “After friendly consultations between the Chinese and U.S. sides, the handover work for the U.S. underwater drone was smoothly completed in relevant waters in the South China Sea at midday,” the ministry said.

The Pentagon said the vehicle had been handed over to the guided missile destroyer USS Mustin near where it had been”unlawfully seized”.

It also called on China to comply with international law and refrain from further efforts to impede lawful U.S. activities. — Reuters </s> "We have registered our objection to China's unlawful seizure of a US unmanned underwater vehicle operating in international waters in the South China Sea. Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

Details were not immediately available on when or how it may be returned.

Earlier Saturday, China's defense ministry said Chinese authorities had decided to return it, but criticized the US for having "hyped up" the issue. President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the incident, calling China's action "unprecedented."

"Upon confirming that the device was a US underwater drone, the Chinese side decided to transfer it to the US side in an appropriate manner," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Sr. Col. Yang Yujun said. "China and the United States have been communicating about this process. It is inappropriate -- and unhelpful for a resolution -- that the US has unilaterally hyped up the issue. We express our regret over that."

The statement added that the US "has been frequently deploying ships and aircraft to conduct close-in surveillance and military surveys in waters facing China. China firmly opposes such acts and demands the US cease such activities. China will stay alert over relevant US activities and will take necessary measures to counter them." A message left with the State Department was not returned Saturday. Saturday morning, Trump tweeted, "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act." China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2016 Trump initially tweeted that it was an "unpresidented" act, leading him to delete the message and retweet it with the correct spelling. The incident, the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, occurred earlier this week about 100 miles off the Philippine port at Subic Bay. The USNS Bowditch had stopped in the water to pick up two underwater drones. At that point, a Chinese naval ship that had been shadowing the Bowditch put a small boat into the water. That small boat came up alongside and the Chinese crew took one of the drones. The US got no answer from the Chinese on the radio when it said the drone was American property, a US defense official told CNN. As they turned away, the Chinese did come up on the radio and indicated they were returning to their own operations. US oceanographic research vessels are often followed in the water under the assumption they are spying. In this case, however, the drone was simply measuring ocean conditions, the official said. Cook earlier in the week said said China had "unlawfully seized" the drone, calling for its immediate return. Although it's unclear what the motivation was for the Chinese, the seizing of the drone comes on the heels of other provocative incidents that have happened since Trump received a congratulatory call from Taiwan's President, a violation of the US's agreement with China's "One China policy." China publicly voiced its disapproval of that incident and contacted the White House at the time. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — A Chinese warship seized a U.S. Navy unmanned underwater glider that was collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea, and the U.S. is demanding its return, the Pentagon said Friday.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has issued a formal diplomatic complaint over Thursday's incident, but he was not aware of any response yet. He said this may be the first time in recent history that China has taken a U.S. naval vessel. There have been periodic incidents over the years between U.S. and Chinese military ships and aircraft.

The Chinese Embassy said it had no immediate comment. But the incident is likely to fray the already tense relations between U.S. and China. Beijing was angered by President-elect Donald Trump's decision to talk by phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2, and by his later comments that he did not feel "bound by a one-China policy" regarding the status of Taiwan, unless the U.S. could gain trade or other benefits from China.

There also have been increased tensions over Beijing's ongoing military buildup in the South China Sea. It includes the development and militarization of man-made shoals and islands aimed at extending China's reach into the Pacific region.

Davis said the USNS Bowditch, a civilian U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship operated by the military's Sealift Command, was recovering two of the gliders about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay near the Philippines when the Chinese ship approached. He said the Dalang Class Chinese ship, which does rescue and recovery missions, sent out a small boat that then took one of the Navy gliders.

He said the Chinese ship acknowledged radio messages from the U.S. ship, but did not respond to demands the craft be returned. The U.S. issued a so-called diplomatic demarche, or formal complaint, overnight.

The Navy drone is a glider, about 10 feet long and less than two feet wide that can be programmed and moves automatically through the water collecting data on temperature, salinity, and other scientific facts used for sonar operations.

"It is ours. It's clearly marked as ours. We would like it back, and we would like this not to happen again," Davis told reporters. He said the drone costs about $150,000 and is largely commercial, off-the-shelf technology.

Davis said the USNS Bowditch, which is not a combat ship, was stopped in international waters Thursday afternoon when the Chinese ship approached. The two vessels were within about 500 yards of each other. He said the USNS Bowditch carries some small arms, but no shots were fired.

As the Chinese ship left with the drone, the Pentagon said, its only radio response to the U.S. vessel was, "We are returning to normal operations."

Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the seizure of the glider occurred inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, not China, and appeared to be a violation of international law.

She said China was likely sending a signal to Trump's incoming administration because of his comments about Taiwan. After those comments, Chinese government spokesman An Fengshan said breaching the one-China principle "will seriously affect peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," and undermine relations between Beijing and Washington.

Under the one-China policy, the U.S. has long recognized Beijing as China's government and maintains only unofficial relations with Taiwan, a former Japanese colony which broke from the Chinese mainland in 1949. U.S. law requires the government to ensure that the island has the ability to defend itself and to treat all threats to it as issues of national concern.

"My guess is this is not the act of a rogue commander on a Chinese navy ship. We have seen tight control by (Chinese President) Xi Jinping over the military. I'm more inclined to see it as a deliberate act and as a signal," Glaser said. She said China would want Trump "to understand before he is sworn in that the United States can't challenge China's core interests with impunity."

There have been periodic such incidents in the area over the years. In March 2001, early in the George W. Bush administration, the same hydrographic survey ship involved in Thursday's incident, USNS Bowditch, was confronted by a Chinese frigate inside China's exclusive economic zone. A few days later, the U.S. filed a diplomatic protest to China, and the Bowditch later returned to the area of the encounter with an armed U.S. escort to continue its mission.

In a more serious encounter in April 2001, a mid-air collision between a U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft and a Chinese fighter jet about 70 miles from China's Hainan island caused the death of a Chinese pilot. The U.S. plane made an emergency landing on Hainan and the 24 U.S. crew were detained there for 10 days, until the U.S. sent a letter to China expressing sorrow for the death of the Chinese pilot.

In March 2009, less than three months into the presidency of Barack Obama, Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a U.S. Navy mapping ship, the USNS Impeccable, in international waters off China. The Chinese ships at one point came within 25 feet of the American boat and strewed debris in its path. China later said the U.S. ship was operating illegally inside China's exclusive economic zone. The Impeccable returned to the area the next day, escorted by a guided-missile destroyer.
China's People's Liberation Army Navy seizes an underwater drone deployed by USNS Bowditch in the South China Sea; the United States files a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return.