Posted on 11/18/2015 11:08:37 AM PST by re_tail20
As soon as the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached 12-nautical-mile territorial limits around one of China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea last week, a Chinese warship shadowing its movements began demanding answers.
"'Hey, you are in Chinese waters. What is your intention?'," it asked, as recounted to reporters on Thursday by Commander Robert Francis, commanding officer of the Lassen.
His crew replied that they were operating in accordance with international law, and intended to transit past the island, carrying out what U.S. officials have called a freedom-of-navigation exercise designed to challenge China's claims to the strategic waterway.
The response from the Chinese destroyer?
"The same query, over and over," said Francis, speaking onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt as it sailed 150 to 200 nautical miles from the southern tip of the Spratly archipelago, a chain of contested islands where China's seven artificial outposts have taken shape in barely two years.
The Lassen had joined the carrier strike group the night before, ahead of a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who while on board blamed China for rising tension in the region.
Beijing has rebuked Washington over the Lassen's patrol, the most significant U.S. challenge yet to territorial limits China claims around its new islands.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
In comments that underscore the frequency with which U.S. warships now come across Chinese vessels in Asian waters, Francis said the Lassen had had about 50 "interactions" with Chinese military ships and aircraft since May while on patrol in the South and East China Seas, something he described as routine.
"Every day a U.S....
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
“A few weeks ago we were talking to one of the ships that was accompanying us, a Chinese vessel ... (We) picked up the phone and just talked to him like, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing this Saturday? Oh, we got pizza and wings. What are you guys eating? Oh, we’re doing this. Hey, we’re planning for Halloween as well’.” The intent, Francis said, is “to show them ... that we’re normal sailors, just like them, have families, just like them.”
china, what are your pretentions?
Hey China, be careful what you wish for.
Zero won’t be president forever....
The thing is, we value our sailors and to lose a ship would be a big psychological and emotion blow to us.
OTOH, the Chinese sailors are expendable “units of labor” that the ChiCom leaders would sacrifice in a millisecond without thought to the moral implications of feeding those lives to the meat grinder.
They simply do not value human life the way we do.
Jeff Head taught me that.
USN should have put in an order for chicken chop suey and 105 egg rolls and hold the hot and sour soup.
How about => Peking, duck!
THE HELL YOU SAY!!!!!
I love hot and sour soup.
That would have been a hilarious reply. Don’t even react to their queries. Just pick up the radio and:
“Yeah, this is for pick up please. We’ll do wonton soup, and pot stickers. Beef and broccoli, steamed rice, please, and pork lo mein. Oh, chopsticks, too, and some extra duc sauce. Thanks.”
You know?
Somehow I doubt very many Chinese-Phillipino navy radio exchanges involve pleasant discussions of Halloween preparations.
GOSH, I WONDER WHY.
Bu the damage the Obama regime has done to the military will last for a generation,
Bu = But -— blasted eye, hand, mind coordination!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.