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This US Navy file photo shows the military Sealift Command ocean surveillance ship USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS-23). Five Chinese vessels maneuvered dangerously close to a US Navy ship in the South China Sea on Sunday, approaching within 25 feet of the unarmed surveillance ship, the Pentagon said.(AFP/NVNS)WASHINGTON (Reuters)The United States on Monday urged China to observe international maritime rules after the Pentagon said five Chinese ships, including a naval vessel, harassed a U.S. Navy ship in international waters.The Chinese vessels "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity" to the USNS Impeccable on Sunday, with one vessel coming within 25 feet of the U.S. ship, a Defense Department statement said.The American ship, an unarmed ocean surveillance vessel with a crew of civilian contractors, was conducting routine operations in the South China Sea 75 miles south of Hainan Island, the Pentagon said."Our ships operate fairly regularly in international waters where these incidents took place," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a news conference. "We are going to continue to operate in those international waters and we expect the Chinese to observe international laws around them."The U.S. embassy in Beijing lodged a weekend protest with the Chinese government, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. U.S. defense policy officials on Monday also reiterated the protest to China's defense attache in Washington."The unprofessional maneuvers 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 U.S. Navy ships by Chinese maritime surveillance aircraft, the Pentagon said...
By David Morgan
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As in the days of Noah...
