The incident came as the USS Cowpens was operating near China's only
aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and at a time of heightened tensions in
the region following Beijing's declaration of an Air Defence
Identification Zone farther north in the East China Sea, a US defence
official said.
Another Chinese warship manoeuvred near the Cowpens
in the incident on December 5, and the Cowpens was forced to take
evasive action to avoid a collision, the Pacific Fleet said in its
statement.
"Eventually, effective bridge-to-bridge communications
occurred between the U.S. and Chinese crews, and both vessels manoeuvred
to ensure safe passage," said the defence official.
The near miss
was the most significant US-China maritime incident in the South-China
Sea since 2009, said security expert Carl Thayer at the Australian
Defence Force Academy.
Heightened tensions over China's military
assertiveness have raised concerns that a minor incident in disputed
maritime waters, the South China Sea and East China Sea, could quickly
escalate.
Both Japan and China lay claim to islands in the East
China Sea and have scrambled aircraft in recent months over the disputed
seas and conducted naval patrols.
China and several ASEAN nations have competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The
US has raised the latest incident at a "high level" with the Chinese
government, according to a State Department official quoted by the US
military's Stars and Stripes newspaper.
In Beijing, the Chinese
foreign and defence ministries have yet to respond to questions about
the incident, while China's often-nationalistic on-line platforms were
filling with debate about the near-miss.
One poster demanded the Chinese navy follow-up by blazing an "independent sea lane" to Hawaii.
Beijing
routinely objects to US military surveillance operations within its
exclusive economic zone, while Washington insists the United States and
other countries have the right to conduct routine operations in what it
says are international waters.
The US Navy said the Cowpens was conducting regular freedom-of-navigation operations when the incident occurred.
China
deployed the Liaoning to the South China Sea just days after announcing
a new air defence zone which covers air space around a group of tiny
islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed
by Beijing as well.
Beijing declared the air zone late last month
and demanded that aircraft flying through it provide flight plans and
other information. The United States and its allies rejected the demand
and have flown military aircraft into the zone.
The Chinese
carrier, which has yet to be fully armed and is still being used as a
training platform, was flanked by escort ships including two destroyers
and two frigates.
Asked if the Chinese vessel was moving toward
the Cowpens with aggressive intent, an official declined to speculate on
the motivations of the Chinese crew.
"US leaders have been clear
about our commitment to develop a stable and continuous
military-to-military relationship with China," the official said in the
email.
"Whether it is a tactical at-sea encounter, or strategic
dialogue, sustained and reliable communication mitigates the risk of
mishaps, which is in the interest of both the US and China," the
official said in an email to Reuters.
Security expert Thayer said
the incident was the most significant since five Chinese ships harassed a
US oceanographic research vessel, the USS Impeccable, in 2009, also in
the South China Sea.
"There have been hints of other incidents that both sides have apparently kept quiet but not this time," he said.
"The US is determined to stand by its rights in international waters and is clearly expecting China to act accordingly."
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