Jeff, was this something out the ordinary for the Chinese response or was it at what you expect them to do?
No...not out of the ordinary.
They shadowed the vessel with their own newest destroyer, the Kunming, a Type 052D destroyer, which comes closest to the Lassen’s capability.
They have three of these new DDGs and are going to build 12-15 more.
We have 62 vessels like the Lassen.
Look, we announced this mission 24 hours before we did it. We announced which ship, and where. The Chinese knew we were coming and had a vessel already there to shadow ours.
I believe this was done to avoid in miscalculation.
Despite the differences over this 12 mile issue, nobody wants a war over it.
The Chinese are simply nor ready to confront us in any major way...but they are building hell bent for leather to try and get there. In the next 10-15 years, unless we really start pouring on the coal ourselves...then may be there.
As it is...we punctuated our FON claims, and they protested...and now we move on. I expect similar future exercises with about the same results unless somebody makes a stupid mistake.