In what the US Navy has called an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter, a Chinese warship sailed within just 45 yards (41 meters) of a US destroyer Sunday as it passed by Chinese-claimed features in the South China Sea, forcing the American vessel to take evasive action.
The close call capped days of tit-for-tat military moves that came as President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war with China.
“The close encounter between the Chinese destroyer and the USS Decatur was the closest one yet,” Timothy Heath, senior international defense research analyst at the RAND Corporation, told AFP.
It “may reflect in part the growing US-China tensions. But it also appears to reflect a growing willingness by Beijing to test the Americans in the South China Sea,” he added.
Beijing reacted furiously after the incident, saying America’s “freedom of navigation” operation threatened China’s sovereignty and security, and damaged military relations between the two powers.
https://
defconwarningsystem.com/2018/10/05/amid-trade-spat-us-china-military-tensions-soar/