Standoff in the South China Sea
“Jon Not To Be Confused With Jonn” sends us a link to Fox News which reports that the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens was confronted by Chinese warships while it was in international waters of the South China Sea.
On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.
“This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”
A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.
The Cowpens was conducting surveillance of the Liaoning at the time. The carrier had recently sailed from the port of Qingdao on the northern Chinese coast into the South China Sea.
Well, this administration wanted to shift their military focus from the Middle East to the Pacific Rim. Now they’ve got it.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues, Navy
Are Chinese sailors as proficient as Chinese drivers…
Just sayin’
Hmmm, things are starting to look like this: http://youtu.be/0-JA1ffd5Ms
The Administration in all their ignorance is playing a stupid game in my opinion. Yes it is international waters but until this “zone” China has declared is resolved, let’s not poke the Panda just for shits and giggles. Problem is, since we have Kerry as the head of our Foreign Affairs, what avenue to we have to resolve said issue? I wouldn’t let him negotiate my purchase of a used car much less talk turkey with the Chinese. Obama and his minions are picking the wrong issue to divert attention from whatever it is they don’t want us looking at currently. I watched a documentary named, “Death By China” about how much we buy from them, the enormous trade deficit and the amount of US funds they hold. I hope they don’t call in their Treasury Bonds. With the enormity of satellite info we can get we don’t need to shadow their carrier with a warship. I am not saying we have to back down from them, just use some discretion in what we are doing in those waters.
The next time this happens Obama will have the US Navy ship pull over and allow inspection by Chinese forces.
If not then the US Navy will be ordered to exit the Chinese ADIZ ASAP.
@ # 1. Perhaps as competent as NorK submariner’s?
Just shaking my head, that’s all.
I’m surprised B. Hussein 0bama hasn’t blamed either the Cowpens’ crew or Bush already!
“Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert, said it is likely that the Chinese deliberately staged the incident as part of a strategy of pressuring the United States.”
Thank you Captain Obvious. I see little change as long as Little BO Peep is in charge.
@3-I think running a deficit like we do is enormously irresponsible, but the threat of China pulling the rug out from under our economy is way overplayed. Most of China’s building and industrial base has been financed by foreign capital. It’s hard to believe if you buy the media’s narrative, but China actually is way more dependent on us than we are on them. They depend on us for having a place to sell all there shit just as surely as we need to buy it. If they tried that kind of a pissing contest, they’d blow out way before we would. The media makes their bread and butter on way overplaying threats and selling them to the people. So do documentary makers. I’d also tend towards disagreement with you on the way Obama’s handling it. I think for once, he has the right idea. China is bluffing with this zone. There’s no way they actually have the military force to back it up; their carrier still has a tremendous amount of work to do before it’s ready to be a fully commissioned warship. Most of their other ships are brown-water type. Keep this up, and sooner or later they’ll back down. I’d keep on the current course of action.
@3- this is the right play. Sail a whole carrier battle group or two into the region to show them just how much control they have over international waters.
When Qaddafi tried this shit in the ’80s, we gave him a taste. Now its China’s turn to learn that they only have as much control over international waters as other nations will allow them to have. Fucking none at all is the only correct answer.
AW1Ed: “Little BO Peep?” Naw. Peep eventually found a clue – and her sheep.
This Admin is IMO more like 3 blind mice (current POTUS, VEEP, and SECSTATE).
I wish I was worth a damn as a cartoonist. That one could turn out pretty good.
Damn right teddy
@9 and @10 I see your points. I must admit, in review of Libya, it is probably the best course to stand our ground in this contested area. @9 I saw the documentary but I understand also that China is more economically dependent on us, than we are on them. I just hate seeing American jobs and manufacturing going to China just to buy back the same stuff we use to make here. At any rate, thanks for your posts and your well taken opinions.
@13- Of course, we played it a little bit dirty with Qaddafi, something I wouldn’t recommend trying on China with our current leadership. It wasn’t enough for Reagan to step to Qaddafi, he had to let him know just how big a piece he was prepared to break him off if he wanted some. So he sent an S-3 up over Libyan airspace as a decoy to get his fighters scrambling toward a slow target, while we had some Tomcats at standoff range waiting. The result was the bitchslap heard ’round the world.
Interesting article about that here:
http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/Bait-and-Switch.html
@14 Thanks. I enjoyed the article.
The PLAN ordered a U.S. Navy ship to stop. That’s funny.
I take a more cynical look at the whole thing. I’m reminded of the inspector in Casabalanca and his “I’m shocked to find out that there is gambling going on in this establishment.”
It says at the end of the article that the Cowpens was trailing the Chinese Carrier. So yes, they may have been in international waters, but we were hardly innocent. What would we have done if a Chinese ship was trying to trail one of our carrier battle groups? Probably the same thing. The PLAN may have been a bit too agressive (in that they almost had a collision at sea), but it seems to me that we and the Russians used to play this game all the time.