China Captures a U.S. Navy Drone in the South China Sea
China Captures a U.S. Navy Drone in the South China Sea
The USNS Bowditch, an
oceanographic survey ship, carries an onboard complement of remotely
operated vehicles (ROVs). Military and commercial vessels have used ROVs
for decades, mainly for oceanographic survey, search and rescue, and
recovery missions.
(Wikimedia)
The Chinese navy has reportedly seized a U.S. Navy
unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in the South China Sea, adding a new
layer of tension to the two countries’ uneasy relationship. According to
several reports, China deployed a boat on Dec. 15 to capture the
vehicle in waters 50-100 nautical miles northwest of the Philippines’
Subic Bay port, just before the USNS Bowditch was preparing to retrieve
the UUV. U.S. defense officials have said that Washington has requested,
through the appropriate diplomatic channels, that Beijing return the
vehicle. The incident comes amid increasingly harsh rhetoric between
Chinese leaders and the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect
Donald Trump, though frictions have been worsening between Washington
and Beijing for years as the United States has sought to counter Chinese
expansionism in the disputed waters.
The USNS Bowditch, a Pathfinder-class survey ship under the
Naval Oceanographic Office’s Maritime Sealift Command, is routinely
deployed to survey and map the ocean floor. Though this mission is
ostensibly civilian in nature, the data the ship collects also has
useful military applications that are particularly relevant for
submarine navigation. In its demand for the UUV’s safe return, the
United States asserted that the vehicle had been captured in
international waters.
A similar dispute arose in 2009 when Chinese naval,
maritime security and fishing vessels trailed and harassed the USNS
Impeccable. The Impeccable, also a U.S. Navy maritime surveillance ship,
was using towed arrays to map the seafloor and, as Washington later
admitted, to track the paths of Chinese submarines. During the incident,
a Chinese fishing boat tried to grapple the sonar dragging behind the
U.S. ship. But there are two major differences between the 2009 and 2016
spats. First, in the most recent case, China nabbed a U.S. naval
vessel, even if it was unmanned. Second, it did so far from Chinese
shores. (In 2009, the Impeccable was underway near Hainan Island, the
main base for Beijing’s nuclear submarines.)
The latest episode appears to be a fairly bold move on
China’s part. By taking physical action in the South China Sea, Beijing
could be trying to assert its claims in the contested waters, many of which were likely undermined by the recent Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling
against China’s artificial island construction. That said, based on
statements by U.S. defense officials, the incident supposedly occurred
more than 50 nautical miles from the Scarborough Shoal, China’s nearest
territorial claim. China is also, of course, attempting to address more
direct security concerns. The underwater mapping that the Bowditch would
have been engaged in can be used to support U.S. anti-submarine
operations by identifying submarines’ most likely paths and, in doing
so, improve the targeting and efficacy of anti-submarine monitoring and
patrols.
China’s decision to take the UUV will certainly ratchet up
tensions with the United States, though not to the same extent as in
2001, when Beijing held the crew members of a downed U.S. aircraft on
Hainan Island. That incident, however, was accidental (even if Chinese
jets were closely shadowing U.S. aircraft). This week’s was not. The
premeditated move may have been a calculated signal of China’s
willingness to pressure the United States, should Washington reconsider its recognition of Taiwan as
it has hinted it may. Beijing may also be indicating that it has no
intention of backing down from its assertive tactics in the South China
Sea.
In the United States, the incident will no doubt inflame
the heated political debate about how best to manage Washington’s
relations to China in the years ahead, particularly as Trump prepares to
take office. Meanwhile, for Southeast Asian states already struggling
to safeguard their maritime interests, their positions in the disputed
waters will only grow more precarious. Given the location of the capture
and China’s blatant actions, according to U.S. allegations, the U.S.
Navy will probably be compelled to respond by stepping up its presence
in the South China Sea and providing armed escorts to U.S. surveillance
vessels. This, in turn, could give rise to more posturing and harassment
operations from China as Beijing pushes back against Washington’s
growing footprint in the Asia-Pacific region.
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