A Chinese Navy ship maneuvered in an “unsafe manner” near an American destroyer transiting the Taiwan Strait, the US military said Saturday, Report informs via CBS News.
Video taken by Canadian news outlet Global News showed the Chinese warship speeding towards the USS Chung-Hoon. It came within 150 yards of the American destroyer, US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.
It is the second close encounter between American and Chinese military assets in less than 10 days, following what the US military said was an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” by one of Beijing’s fighter’s near one of Washington’s surveillance planes last week.
The Chinese ship “executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner in the vicinity” of the Chung-Hoon, the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) said in a statement.
Beijing’s ship “overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards. Chung-Hoon maintained course and slowed to 10 (knots) to avoid a collision,” the statement said.
It then “crossed Chung-Hoon’s bow a second time starboard to port at 2,000 yards (meters) and remained off Chung-Hoon’s port bow,” coming within 150 yards at the closest point, the US military said, adding that the “US military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows.”
The incident occurred as the Chung-Hoon sailed through the Taiwan Strait with a Canadian warship in a joint mission through the sensitive waterway that separates self-ruled Taiwan from China.
The Chinese military said it had monitored the passage, but made no mention of a close encounter.
“The relevant countries are intentionally creating trouble in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately stirring up risks, and maliciously undermining regional peace and stability,” said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, the spokesman of China’s Eastern Theatre Command.
US warships frequently sail through the strait. The last joint US-Canada passage was in September 2022.
The incident occurred as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, participated in a defense summit in Singapore. The US had invited Li to meet Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, but Beijing declined.