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A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuter Friday.
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The incident, the first of its kind in recent memory, took place on Dec. 15 about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle, or UUV, officials said.
"The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea," one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon confirmed the incident at a news briefing. "It is ours, and it is clearly marked as ours and we would like it back. And we would like this not to happen again," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.
The seizure comes at a moment of sabre-rattling from Chinese state media and some in the military establishment after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump cast doubt on whether the United States would stick to its nearly four-decades-old policy of recognizing Taiwan as part of "one China."
It also comes a day after China's ambassador to the United States said Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity.
"Basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored, certainly not be seen as something you can trade off," Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top U.S. companies, said on Wednesday.
He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump's decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan's president on Dec. 2.
The call was the first such contact with Taiwan by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979.
Also on Friday, President Barack Obama warned Trump that any U.S. policy change toward Taiwan would lead to consequences from China.
"For China, the issue of Taiwan is as important as anything on their docket," Obama told a news conference. "The idea of one China is at the heart their conception as a nation and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what the consequences are."
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