So the U.S. destroyer John S. McCain is the latest ship to run into trouble with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. In this case, a Chinese submarine, which was undoubtedly tracking the vessel, ran afoul of a sonar tracking device being towed by the ship. The incident took place outside of Subic Bay in the Philippines, where even the most extreme Chinese territorial claims don’t reach, I don’t think. Still, it’s instructive that from a senior Chinese officer’s point of view, the incidents won’t stop until the U.S. leaves the area completey. Here’s the money quote from the story in the China Daily:
Major General Luo Yuan, a senior researcher with the Academy of Military Sciences in Beijing, said though the collision was accidental, the existence of US ships in the South China Sea is cause for potential incidents.
“The best way to avoid such collisions is for the Pentagon to stop its unfriendly moves toward China in this region,” he said.