Chinese Warship Confronts U.S. Warship in South China Sea

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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/12/13/Chinese-Warship-Confronts-U-S-Warship-In-South-China-Sea

Chinese Warship Confronts U.S. Warship in South China Sea

by AWR Hawkins 13 Dec 2013, 1:34 PM PDT

A U.S guided missile warship was confronted by a Chinese warship in international waters last week in the South China Sea.

The incident happened December 5th in the wake of China's declaration of a new Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

According to Reuters, the confrontation led to a "near-collision" between the two vessels.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that the USS Cowpens was ordered to stop, and when it refused the order—because it was in international waters—a Chinese Navy vessel "sailed in front of Cowpens and stopped, forcing the [U.S. vessel] to abruptly change course in what officials said was a dangerous maneuver."

Pentagon officials warned that this type of confrontation would be more likely in light of China's new ADIZ.

Most of the South China Sea is claimed by Beijing and "territorial disputes" with various other countries continue to feed tensions in the area.

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China’s Increasingly Aggressive Stance Toward Its Territorial Claims

http://blog.heritage.org/2013/12/13/chinas-increasingly-aggressive-stance-toward-territorial-claims/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FoundryConservativePolicyNews+%28The+Foundry%3A+Conservative+Policy+News.%29

A Chinese naval vessel nearly collided with the U.S. cruiser USS Cowpens last week after another Chinese vessel had ordered the U.S. ship to stop, according to reports. Beijing appears intent upon establishing its dominance over the entire Asian littoral, from Japan in the north to Indonesia in the south, and compelling other states to recognize its claims.

Beijing has long claimed control over almost the entire South China Sea, based upon a variety of arguments, including a 1930s map that encompasses most of the area—this is the oft-mentioned “nine-dash line.” The incident involving the Cowpens is merely the most recent in a series of Chinese actions reinforcing its claims over the various seas adjacent to China.

    In 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a U.S. EP-3 surveillance aircraft, resulting in the loss of the Chinese fighter and the U.S. aircraft being forced to land at Hainan Island.
    In 2009, Chinese fishing boats and law enforcement vessels harassed a number of U.S. ships, most notably the USNS Impeccable, while they were engaging in hydrographic research in the area, outside Chinese territorial waters.
    In 2011, an Indian naval vessel departing Vietnam was hailed by an unidentified source which claimed that it was operating in Chinese waters. This was followed by a pointed Chinese warning to India not to help Vietnam in developing offshore oil resources, reiterating Beijing’s view that no foreign companies or states should engage in oil exploration in the area without Chinese permission.

China, meanwhile, has rejected any arbitration to resolve the outstanding disputes, despite signing the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In this most recent incident, the USS Cowpens had been conducting surveillance on the Chinese carrier Liaoning, which had departed its northern home port of Qingdao to operate in