China has promised to return a US Navy drone it seized in the South China Sea but reaffirmed its opposition to the US military presence in what it considers to be its territory.
The Chinese Defence Ministry said one of its naval vessels had discovered a piece of “unidentified equipment” and checked it to prevent any navigational safety issues, before discovering it was a US drone.
“The Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device,” the statement said.
“China decided to return it to the US side in an appropriate manner, and China and the US have all along been in communication about it.”
“During this process, the US side’s unilateral and open hyping up is inappropriate and is not beneficial to the smooth resolution of this issue. We express regret at this.’
The ‘hyping up’ was an apparent reference to a misspelled tweet posted by Donald Trump about the issue, a day after Barack Obama had appealed for restraint.
In the tweet, the US President-elect wrote: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act.”
Without directly saying whether the drone was operating in waters China considers its own, the Defence Ministry said US ships and aircraft have for a long period been carrying out surveillance and surveys in “the presence” of Chinese waters.
“China is resolutely opposed to this, and demands the US stops this kind of activity,” it said.
“China will continue to maintain vigilance against the relevant US activities and will take necessary measures to deal with them,” the ministry said without elaborating.
The United States said the drone had been operating lawfully before it was taken nearly 60 miles northwest of Subic Bay, near the Philippines, in the South China Sea.
Some commentators speculated the drone was taken by China after Mr Trump took a call from the Taiwanese president, congratulating the businessman on his election win.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that is actually part of China, and the US has essentially accepted this situation for decades while selling arms to Taiwan.
Tensions between China and the US have escalated in recent years as the former has staked claims to ever-increasing chunks of territory and the latter has sought to maintain a strong military presence in the region.
