The US military for a long time used freedom of navigation on the high seas as an excuse to sail along China’s doorstep while conducting close reconnaissance and surveillance of our routine military activities. Recently, foreign media has reported that there was a confrontation between Chinese and US warships in the South China Sea.
On December 5th, the USS Cowpens, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, was in the South China Sea monitoring the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, when it nearly came into a “head on encounter” with a Chinese amphibious attack ship. The US warship had to take evasive maneuvers in order to avoid a collision.
A US State Department official said that the US government had formally protested the incident to the Chinese government through diplomatic and military channels.
US Defense Department officials said that the Chinese ship, an unidentified amphibious transport dock, came within 500 meters of the Cowpens, which was near the Liaoning at the time, but that there was effective communication between the ships at all times.
The news was first reported on the Washington Free Beacon website. US officials said that a Chinese ship attempted to stop the Cowpens in international waters, sparking a tense standoff.
The Cowpens had recently been in the Philippines providing disaster relief but at the time of the confrontation was operating in the South China Sea in the vicinity of the Liaoning.
US media said, at the time, the Cowpens was monitoring the Liaoning, which had recently sailed from the northern Chinese port of Qingdao to the South China Sea. According to US officials, the incident began after the Chinese side issued a warning and request for the Cowpens to identify itself. When the Cowpens ignored the request and continued sailing, a Chinese landing ship sailed in front of the Cowpens in an effort to force it to stop. The Cowpens had to make evasive maneuvers in order to avoid colliding with the ship. US officials called the landing ship's actions “a dangerous maneuver.”
According to US officials, the incident took place about a week ago and the Cowpens was in the area conducting routine “freedom-of-navigation” exercises. The US has long used “freedom-of-navigation” as an excuse to sail in waters near the Chinese border to monitor, survey and interfere with its routine military activities.