WASHINGTON, March 9: Five Chinese ships, including a naval vessel, harassed a US Navy ocean surveillance ship in international waters in the South China Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon claimed.

The incident prompted the US embassy in Beijing to lodge a weekend protest with the Chinese government, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

US defence officials on Monday reiterated the protest to China’s defence attaché in Washington, an official said.

The Chinese vessels “shadowed and aggressively manoeuvred in dangerously close proximity” to the USNS Impeccable and its crew of civilian contractors, with one ship coming within 25 feet (7.6 meters), a Defence Department statement said.

It said the American ship was conducting routine operations 120km south of Hainan Island.

“The unprofessional manoeuvres by Chinese vessels violated the requirement under international law to operate with due regard for the rights and safety of other lawful users of the ocean,” Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Major Stewart Upton said in a statement.

“We expect Chinese ships to act responsibly and refrain from provocative activities that could lead to miscalculation or a collision at sea.”

The encounter was the latest incident of “increasingly aggressive” Chinese conduct in the area, which in recent days also included fly-bys of US Navy ships by Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon identified the Chinese vessels in Sunday’s incident as a navy intelligence ship, a bureau of maritime fisheries patrol vessel, a state oceanographic administration patrol vessel and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers.

The Impeccable is one of six Navy surveillance ships that gather underwater acoustical data while operating as part of the US Military Sealift Command, the Pentagon said.

The Chinese vessels surrounded the Impeccable while two closed to within 50 feet (15.2 meters), waving Chinese flags and telling the US ship to leave the area, the Defence Department said.—Reuters
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