Chinese warship seizes U.S. Navy underwater drone

Burning BushDEC. 17, 2016 - 07:20AM JST Watch as Obama does nothing concrete nor tangible. Another humiliation for the US.

Think before you post, eh? This kind of thing never happened before Trump started upending US's diplomatic stance well before he even got into office.

If this is China retaliating for Trump's call with Taiwan, I don't think Trump will care that China seized a tool for conducting scientific research. They should write a bad review of his restaurant instead.

Don't worry. They'll give it back once they've put it back together again.

From the way this article reads it sounds like business as usual.

No "erase my drone" feature installed?

Who said something about Trump's childish behavior in politics a few days ago? This is a case of infantile action which can have serious repercussions. How far are these chinese blokes willing to go? It's about time America starts dealing with china the chinese way.

This is not the drone we are looking for.

Move on.

Does anyone really believe the U.S. Navy has to build a $150,000 drone to simply collect salinity data & water temperatures?

Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

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.

Throwing gasoline while holding a match Bonnie Glaser? Making up fake news to fit your narrative?

Ms. Glaser is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute of International Strategic Studies.

Nobody in their right mind trusts you people anymore Bonnie. Go back to your bunkers and wither away.

Does anyone really believe the U.S. Navy has to build a $150,000 drone to simply collect salinity data & water temperatures?

Not Chinese waters, so it's irrelevant what anyone believes.

It seems that China has found a nice American toy in its backyard and It probably would return it after sucked a lot all over.

If this is China retaliating for Trump's call with Taiwan, I don't think Trump will care that China seized a tool for conducting scientific research. They should write a bad review of his restaurant instead.

Or insult him on Twitter. Of course, that would start WWIII.

Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.

civilian U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship operated by the military’s Sealift Command

and we're wondering where post-truth came from?

Chinese warship seizes U.S. Navy underwater drone

Actually they stole it....

Now description is unmanned glider

"This kind of thing never happened before Trump started upending US's diplomatic stance well before he even got into office.

Think before you post, eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HainanIslandincident"

Lulz... you mean when BUSH was president?

Chinese warship seizes U.S. Navy underwater drone

Actually they stole it....

China working on their skills in piracy.

International waters folks. China can't claim it's on their "territory" because it isn't their territory.

@HonestDictator They can, and they do. And it's this appeasement attitude from everyone else that enables their bolden and bolden behaviours

JoeintokyoDEC. 17, 2016 - 08:05AM JST Think before you post, eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HainanIslandincident

If you think China's intentional capture of an unmanned probe is at all a comparable event to a mid-air collision, that tells me everything I need to know about your approach to this discussion.

Well it now belongs to China and will shortly be available world wide as a toy for grown up kids.

It would be interesting with major conflict with U.S. Is china really prepared with the consequences of 1.3 billion people of the conflict with U.S. and japan? Do China think it's a 'win win" situation?

oops! now what? i hope usa retaliates hard enough so that i stop seeing everything saying made in china

Remote detonation should be incorporated into the design of all military tech. Call them other team up and tell them the device they gangstered will explode if not returned w/in 3 minutes.

China can't claim it's on their "territory" because it isn't their territory.

I don't know. Maybe the Chinese cannot read English ? They are already claiming it was 'unmarked' when it clearly was not.

On the TV news it was reported that this model of underwater drone is available commercially for about $150,000 USD. The Chinese Navy should have just gone out and bought one, rather than stealing one. The damage to relations between the two countries will cost more than $150,000.

Sometimes China behaves surprisingly wisely, and other time she behaves the opposite of wisely.

The damage to relations between the two countries will cost more than $150,000.

But provoking the US after being provoked by Trump is probably well worth the cost to them.

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.

This is plain brazen theft. The USNS Bowditch is a Navy ship staffed by civilians. It was in international waters, just 50 nautical miles off the Philippines and nowhere near China. The Chinese went out of their way to send a small boat intentionally to steal something that doesn't belong to them nor an imminent threat to their safety.

No matter what Trump had said, it doesn't give China the right to steal that US equipment (just like a shouting match against a bloke in a bar doesn't give ya the right to steal his car).

What's China's justification for this?

Unless China can justify this, the US has the right for compensation - including repossessing similar Chinese equipment as recompense.

Unless China can justify this, the US has the right for compensation - including repossessing similar Chinese equipment as recompense.

True, but who in the world would want to seize their snide, copied junk?

They will probably try to remake it and give us back the copy. At least Trump has been given some lead time in devising a response.

Stuart hayward: Does anyone really believe the U.S. Navy has to build a $150,000 drone to simply collect salinity data & water temperatures?

Other reports state that it's a commercially available drone that retails at that price. China could easily buy one of their own. Apparently, it was testing water temperature and salinity, which can affect the sonar used by submarines. It's been reported as civilian research paid for by the U.S. Navy (if I remember correctly). The U.S. ship had already collected one drone, and (being an unarmed ship) could only watch on as the Chinese took the other drone and sailed away.

The drone is useless to the Chinese both technologically speaking, and near-useless for data. It's clearly meant to be a huge middle finger to the U.S. The Chinese military likes to do this sort of thing if they think they aren't getting the respect they feel they deserve. Of course, what they feel and what they deserve don't always align.

The Chinese military likes to do this sort of thing if they think they aren't getting the respect they feel they deserve. Of course, what they feel and what they deserve don't always align.

Sounds like our half-orangutan soon-to-be-overlord.

Sounds like our half-orangutan soon-to-be-overlord.

A little harsh perhaps, but we certainly live in interesting times. Some may even say that this sort of thing is unpresidented...

Unpresidented that the soon to be president can't even freaking spell. I wonder if he can find China on the map....bah, matters are worse than I thought.....

Trump released a statement on Twitter, calling it an "unpresidented act."