Video Released in Confrontation Between Chinese Vessels and USNS Impeccable (VIDEO)

There don't appear to be hard feelings in the high sea antics between the U.S. and the Chinese.

Chinese vessel edges in closely to the U.S. Navy Ship Impeccable last March in the South China Sea. Photo: U.S. Navy

(SALEM, Ore. ) - Five Chinese vessels shadowed and in the words of the U.S. Navy, "aggressively maneuver in dangerously close proximity" to the USNS Impeccable in March while the vessel was on maneuvers in the South China Sea.

The Navy called it "an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters."

Two of the Chinese vessels reportedly closed to within 50 feet, the sailors aboard waving Chinese flags and telling Impeccable to leave the area.

The matter is serious according to federal officials, but the twangy drawl of a sailor's voice in a video released by the U.S. Navy saying, "I'm gettin' it all on video Captain" followed by, "Where the Hell's your zoom? Where's your zoom?" adds a misplaced, casual quality to the moment.

I would have expected a high tech camera aboard the ship to record the action, and a statement like, "Captain, we have them in our sites at 25 meters and they are closing rapidly" or something like that. In all fairness, the videos included below the story are interesting to watch and the Chinese boats get very close.

What I'm suggesting is that this may go down in history as a not overly tense but lukewarm moment in the history of Naval security.

The other side of the Story

Military sources in China told reporters there that the USNS Impeccable, along with other surveillance vessels, has been collecting various kinds of data including sonar signals that help trace submarine activities in the Chinese exclusive economic zone.

According to the an AP report cited in the China Daily, "Two U.S. defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said that the Impeccable was part of a calculated U.S. surveillance operation in the South China Sea."

Russian media linked the presence of US navy ships in the South China Sea to China's naval base in Hainan, where they report that "a Chinese nuclear submarine base is not far from the spot where the US ship was operating".

Reuters also cited analysts as saying Hainan is a sensitive area as it houses submarines carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The U.S. Navy says that because the Chinese vessel's intent was not clear, sailors aboard the Impeccable sprayed fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to dissuad a closer approach and avoid being boarded.

The incident took place 75 miles south of Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

Chinese ships and aircraft routinely steam or fly near U.S. Navy ships in this area, however the Navy says, "these actions were considerably more aggressive, unprofessional and dangerous than we have seen and thus greatly increase the risk of collision or miscalculation".

The China Daily reports that in spite of the March confrontation between the American and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea on Sunday, the U.S. Navy is welcome to join a celebratory parade next month in waters off Qingdao, a naval officer said Wednesday.

"The navy has no plans to withdraw the invitation to the US for the event," Rear-Admiral Zhang Deshun, deputy chief-of-staff of the People's Liberation Army's navy, told China Daily Wednesday. "The incident is not going to deter everything,"

More than 30 countries, including major powers such as the U.S. and Russia, have been invited to join the parade themed "The Harmonious Ocean " on April 23rd to mark 60 years of the Chinese navy.

Video

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.
Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.
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