China admits its warship ‘encountered’ U.S. vessel

PanARMENIAN.Net - China says one of its warships "encountered" a U.S. vessel, confirming U.S. reports of a near-collision in the South China Sea earlier this month, according to BBC News.

The U.S. said its guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens was forced to take evasive action as the two ships neared each other on Dec 5. It has been described as the most serious Sino-U.S. confrontation in the South China Sea since 2009.

However, China said the incident was handled with "strict protocol".

The U.S. has said its ship was operating in international waters.

But China claims parts of the South China Sea, and a state-run newspaper quoted an expert as saying that the U.S. boat had been "harassing" China's aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, as it carried out drills.

The incident came to light last week after U.S. officials spoke about it.

"While lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA [People's Liberation Army] Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision," a US Pacific fleet statement said.

Eventually, the two crews were able to communicate and "both vessels maneuvered to ensure safe passage", an unnamed defence official was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The US had raised the incident at a "high level" with China, an unnamed State Department official quoted by US military newspaper Stars and Stripes said.

In a statement on Wednesday, China's defense ministry said the two ships met during a "routine patrol" by one of China's naval vessels.

"The Chinese naval vessel strictly followed protocol and handled the incident," it said. "The two defense departments used normal working channels to stay informed about the situation and communicated effectively."

The statement added, without elaborating, that some media reports about the event were untrue.

On Monday, China's state-run newspaper Global Times said the U.S. vessel had "posed a threat to China's military security", and quoted an unnamed source as saying that USS Cowpens had been "tailing after and harassing" the Liaoning.

The Liaoning - which is China's first aircraft carrier - was making its first voyage into the South China Sea, an area in which Beijing has multiple overlapping territorial claims with South East Asian nations.

The incident came amid tensions after China established an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over a swathe of the East China Sea, including disputed islands controlled by Japan.

Japan, the U.S. and South Korea - which claims a rock that lies within China's declared zone - have strongly criticised the move, with the U.S. calling it "an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo" in the region.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the East China Sea air zone should not be implemented and "China should refrain from taking similar, unilateral actions elsewhere in the region and in particular, over the South China Sea."

In 2009, the U.S. government said five Chinese ships "aggressively manoeuvred" close to an unarmed U.S. navy surveillance vessel in international waters in the South China Sea.

However, China described the U.S. reports as "totally inaccurate" and said the ship was conducting activities within China's exclusive economic zone.