On Sunday, an unarmed Navy ocean survey vessel was forced to turn on the firehose to fend off Chinese ships shadowing it in the South China Sea. The incident -- which happened in international waters claimed by China as an "exclusive economic zone" -- touched off a full-blown diplomatic spat between China and the United States.
The civilian-manned survey ship, the USNS Impeccable, was described by the Pentagon news service as "mapping the sea bottom" when the incident occurred. Umm, kinda sorta. Associated Press military writer Anne Gearan confirmed with defense officials that the ship was outfitted with sub-hunting equipment and was on a "calculated U.S. surveillance operation"; according to a photo released by the Navy, Chinese crew members were photographed trying to snag the* Impeccable's *towed sensor array.
Over at Information Dissemination, Galrahn suggests a little bit of honesty is in order here. The Pentagon, he writes, needs to level with the American public about what exactly the mission is here.
"Somebody in the DoD [Department of Defense] apparently believes the American people can't handle the truth regarding what our ships would be doing off the Chinese coast," he writes. "Can someone please explain how collecting intelligence on the least transparent nation in the world while in international waters with an unarmed ship whose primary purpose is to monitor submarine activity is somehow a threatening act towards China if we say it out loud. If we wanted to be threatening to China, we would use one of our heavily armed AEGIS ships or better yet, one of our first in class submarines."
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
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