The Pentagon today protested what it called harassment and aggressive shadowing of a U.S. Navy ocean surveillance ship by five Chinese vessels in international waters off the South China Sea on Sunday, warning such behavior could lead to collisions or the loss of life.
During the incident, the Chinese vessels "surrounded" the U.S.N.S. Impeccable and closed within 50 feet, with Chinese crew members "waving Chinese flags and telling Impeccable to leave the area," according to a Pentagon statement.
Impeccable sprayed fire hoses at one of the vessels in self-protection, but the Chinese crewmembers stripped to their underwear and the ship "continued closing to within 25 feet," the Pentagon said.
At that point, the Impeccable used a bridge-to-bridge radio to communicate it was leaving the area, but two of the Chinese vessels stopped directly in the path of the U.S. ship, forcing it to conduct an emergency stop.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing lodged a formal protest over the incident with China's Foreign Ministry during the weekend. Today senior Defense Department officials met with a Chinese defense attaché at the Pentagon to reiterate the protest, according to a defense official.
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