China's Navy seizes American underwater drone in South China Sea

[Spike]

Can you draw a red line in the ocean?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese Navy warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by an American oceanographic vessel in international waters in the South China Sea

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.

"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."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-n...water-drone-south-china-161319851.html?ref=gs

-----------------------

oh wait, I bet this was just a part of the Obama-Kerry-Clinton Foundation Technology Transfer Program, nevermind


Who wants to go to Honolulu?

 

[Coach]

They know Obama is very weak. Now is the time to do something like this. I saw Obama today on TV. He looks slow and out of it.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

They know Obama is very weak. Now is the time to do something like this. I saw Obama today on TV. He looks slow and out of it.

He's looking forward to retiring and playing golf.

 

[Confluence]

He's looking forward to retiring and playing golf.

Back to the Choomwagon

 

[Troglodyte]

They know Obama is very weak. Now is the time to do something like this. I saw Obama today on TV. He looks slow and out of it.

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

 

[IndySteel]

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

Nah, he'll have all of Obama's failures fixed in the first two years.

 

[ark steel]

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

Why only four?

 

[stillerfaninfl]

Hell, Dems and libs blamed Boooosh during all 8 years of Obama's tenure.

 

[MT~Forged]

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

I intend to blame Obama for all the failures for the next 8 years, just like he has blamed Bush. The successes will be all Trump's, sound familiar?

 

[Ron Burgundy]

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

Hopefully not long at all. And there won't be a fingerprint of Bomma anywhere on the government.

 

[hamster]

How long are you gonna blame Obama during Trump's tenure? All four years?

The irony in this post is enough to sink a battleship.

 

[Troglodyte]

Why only four?

I'm bracing for a worst case scenario where the first four years are such a disaster, he doesn't even seek re-election.

 

[Troglodyte]

The irony in this post is enough to sink a battleship.

Yes, but very telling is you're failure to commit to not blaming Obama.

 

[Steelr4evr]

I'm sure Barry will send an apology letter to China.

 

[Spike]

Trump speaks, China kneels


U.S. President-elect Donald Trump weighed in to the row on Saturday, tweeting: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.”


China agrees to return seized drone

China to return seized drone, calls ‘hype’ inappropriate. China’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday it had been in talks with the United States about returning an underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but the U.S. was not helping by “hyping up” the issue.

The drone was taken on Thursday, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines, just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), U.S. officials said.

The Defence Ministry said a Chinese naval vessel discovered a piece of “unidentified equipment” and checked it to prevent any navigational safety issues, before discovering it was a U.S. drone.

http://nypost.com/2016/12/17/china-to-return-seized-drone-calls-hype-inappropriate/

 

[CharlesDavenport]

Muted U.S. Response to China’s Seizure of Drone Worries Asian Allies

Across Asia, diplomats and analysts said they were perplexed at the inability of the Obama administration to devise a strong response to China’s challenge. It did not even dispatch an American destroyer to the spot near Subic Bay, a former American Navy base that is still frequented by American ships, some noted.

“Allies and observers will find it hard not to conclude this represents another diminishment of American authority in the region,” said Douglas H. Paal, the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Significantly, the Chinese grabbed the drone not only in international waters but outside even the “nine-dash line” that China uses as a marker for its claims in the South China Sea. In so doing, analysts said, Beijing was making the point that the entire sea was its preserve, even though it is entirely legal for the United States to conduct military operations in waters within 200 miles of the Philippines, an area known as an exclusive economic zone.

More important than the equipment was the principle of freedom of navigation in international waters, and whether China was in the process of imposing its own rules in the South China Sea — more than 800 miles away from its coastline, said Alexander Vuving, a specialist on Vietnam at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

“This is China showing that it is in the process of setting the rules in the South China Sea, imposing its own view in the South China Sea and saying the South China Sea should be its own backyard,” Mr. Vuving said.

“If China can get away with this incident with impunity,” he added, “this will send a chilling message to countries in the region.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/w...as-seizure-of-drone-worries-asian-allies.html

If China thinks that kicking sand in Obama's face is going to scare Donald Charles Atlas Trump, they have severely miscalculated.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

If China thinks that kicking sand in Obama's face is going to scare Donald Charles Atlas Trump, they have severely miscalculated.

If Trump gets pissed off enough I can see him signing an EO blocking all imports from China until further notice. Shelves at Walmart and Harbor Freight will be bare in a week.

 

[Sarge]

I'm bracing for a worst case scenario where the first four years are such a disaster, he doesn't even seek re-election.

You are going to be disappointed.

 

[Spike]

They know Obama is very weak. Now is the time to do something like this. I saw Obama today on TV. He looks slow and out of it.

Hush child, that's no way to speak of the Libs' savior on his farewell golfing and holiday tour



Even now, Tibs is furious at work, trying to blame PRESIDENT-ELECT Trump for this

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Trump speaks, China kneels


U.S. President-elect Donald Trump weighed in to the row on Saturday, tweeting: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.”


China agrees to return seized drone

China to return seized drone, calls ‘hype’ inappropriate. China’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday it had been in talks with the United States about returning an underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but the U.S. was not helping by “hyping up” the issue.

The drone was taken on Thursday, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines, just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), U.S. officials said.

The Defence Ministry said a Chinese naval vessel discovered a piece of “unidentified equipment” and checked it to prevent any navigational safety issues, before discovering it was a U.S. drone.

http://nypost.com/2016/12/17/china-to-return-seized-drone-calls-hype-inappropriate/

Trump should say he asked them to look for Ted Kennedy's car while they're at it.