Chinese Sub Came Close To U.S. Ships
Navy Commander Says Close Encounter Could Have Triggered 'Unforeseen' Incident
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U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. William Fallon, left, with Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at the 23-nation Chief of Defense Forces meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006. (AP Photo)
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A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, however, said she had not heard of such an incident.
The aircraft carrier and its supporting ships were conducting exercises in an unidentified location when the encounter occurred, Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters.
The carrier group was not engaged in anti-submarine exercises, but if it had, "and if this Chinese sub came in the middle of this, then it could have escalated into something that could have been very unforeseen," he said.
Fallon, who is in Kuala Lumpur for a 23-nation Chief of Defense Forces meeting, did not give any other details. He was commenting on a report on The Washington Times' Web site that said a Chinese submarine "stalked" the Kitty Hawk and surfaced within torpedo firing range.
The newspaper said the carrier group was operating close to Okinawa at the time of the incident.
"It illustrates the primary reason why we are trying to push, to have better military-to-military relationships" with China, Fallon said.
"Because the fact is that you have military units that operate in close proximity to one another," he said, warning of "the potential for events that would not be what we'd like to see."
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu could not say if the incident had indeed occurred.
"I have not heard of such a report," she said at a regular news briefing Tuesday. "China has always had a defensive national defense policy. We are an adamant force in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the world at large," she said.
Fallon's disclosure came at the same time the commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet, Adm. Gary Roughead, was in China overseeing the first ever joint exercise, scheduled to start Nov. 19, between the U.S. and Chinese navies.
"It's a modest search-and-rescue exercise, but it's a start ... so that we can move ahead from what I would characterize as kind of Cold War thinking," Fallon said.
Fallon has visited China three times since taking office about 18 months ago to boost contacts and reduce the potential for miscalculations.
Visits between the Chinese and American militaries dropped off after the collision of a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet off China's coast in 2001 but relations have improved recently as Washington cautiously seeks to increase exchanges.
China declined an invitation to attend the Kuala Lumpur meeting, but Fallon said he was hopeful they would in the future.
©MMVI, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 28 CommentsThey didn't fire on us or anything. They probably surfaced to see what was on their radar, saw it was navy boats, said "oops" and went back on their way.
I dont know what we expect when we're conducting "operations" in foriegn waters. I mean, Chinese subs in South Asian waters, go figure huh?
Don%u2019t you think their Navy has to justify their budget? Subs record ships for profiles and a Navy exercise gives you a lot of recordings. They sent an old diesel out, had it sit dead in the water and record away. Their Sub commander is most likely in deep trouble for surfacing and exposing the mission.
As far as all this war talk with China, have any of you been to Chongqing, Singapore, or Beijing. They embrace capitalism better than Russia, heck even France. Can we trust them? No, but war is the last thing on their minds. Manufacturing domination is much more profitable and will keep their leadership in place a lot longer.
And Japan siding with China, do schools teach anything about the Far East.
Lastly, we have several SSN and SSBNs off China at all times. Do we want war with China because of that? No, but you don%u2019t build them to sit tied to a pier.
Incidents of this type are viewed by our group, PurgeCongress.com, as a threat to America and the free world.
Furthermore, Congress should never allow such to occur without a quick no mercy response.
Purge Congress is onto Congress!
Michael Smith
Purge Congress, Inc.
PurgeCongress.com
As for the incident of late...Adm Fallon down to the skippers of the units involved (Kitty Hawk) as well as the task force submarine commander(s) should all be relieved for derilection of duty!
A "Harsh" and needed example should be set!
mb-Groton, CT "Submarine Capital of the World" maybe.
They are playing games, and asserting their strength, which is all well and good. And they are showing their weaknesses as well.
If they launched a Pearl Harbor-type attack, they would have sunk the Kitty Hawk, but the other carriers (I believe 8 more), all with nuke capability, would act with our ICBMs and do a little damage to their country. They can't launch a realistic attack on the US...which means "boots on the ground."
1. China is buying a little bit of us each day as we remain in serious debt.
2. Our precious Wal Marts would instantly have to start shedding stores because of serious supply disruptions of cheap goods thus sending the economy into a tailspin.
If the North American Union is reality by 2010, as planned, Mexican trucks with Chinese goods (or troops) will get all the way to Kansas City before facing inspection (and then only by Mexicans).
Making our secured facilities open to them is one of their modus operandi.
Between our industrial base selling everything in the world to them and getting nothing in return, and our politicians and "statesmen" from both parties acting like third rate morons in their strategic dealing with them, I believe our country might have only 20 years before things blow up with them. And with the crop of leaders that we have now (again, both parties and it has been true for some time) who are unwilling to face a hard fight and take a stand, I don't think that we would win...
Sorry for the pessimistic view but there it is. Unless our leaders get a change of mindset or we get a change of leaders, we're in trouble.
Then you obviously know that Toshiba was blacklisted in the U.S. For 15 years, for the shipping of the Special C and C machine that machined our special low frequency, multifaced and multi blade silent running speed props, .......that also....left no...heat trail or wake....as..seen by Infrared....and.....photogrametry....?.....
That and the underwater max speed....is still a ...Great Secret......
Observer.....Barking Sands,Hii
Underwater Submarine Warfare Center - Manaa, Hi.....Incident......Russian sub "K" series...top secret "Code Red"...Salvage Operation....disguised....as Manganese Module gathering from sub sea bottom....owned by Howard Hughes.......CIA.." Glomar Explorer" named & commisioned.......SALVAGE....relatively sucessful.....Speculation: Russians did't know what happened....Disapeared off the Map.. ala "USS Thresher" until recovery. Hull had been torpedoed........"Hunter Killer" attack by US sub....which found the Russian's Top Sub....nestled in a trench Offshore....monitoring the war games!.......next...sub destroyed.....How? It also ran past Hydrophones...set up by choppers...for the game....caught the Russian Intrusion! Bam.......
Observer/Barking Sands,Hawaii
Does anyone think that if the Chinese sub would have opened a missile launch tube door or a torpedo door that we would have seen anything on the news except for the USA helping to locate a missing Chinese sub?
There are 27 USA fast attack subs in the Pacific fleet. They are hunters and I'm sure one was stalking. It's their job...they just don't advertise it.
Remember 9/11 in all reality was 19 guys with a well executed plan...and the powers that "be" have turned it into this nightmare of a country of 300 million people running scared...my toothpaste is now "dangerous"...
Remember the words of Hermann Goring at the Nuremberg Trials:
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotissm, and exposing the country to greater danger."
Almost sounds like the "debate" before our present fiasco in Iraq...
...or in the words of Chris Rock, "Al-Qaeda...I'm not afraid of Al-Qaeda...I'm afraid of Al-Cracker..."
SteveK-Los Angeles
I highly doubt an incident would have triggered WWIII. After all, we've had more significant incidents in the past between nuclear powers and it's worked out. Many the public wouldn't even want to know about. Remember how craze the Soviets in Europe? They were crapping in their drawers thinking we were going to invade at any second. They were always going on alert and we would start it. Look at the DMZ, how many incidents do you think happen there every day! Look at leaving Norfolk and the Russian trawlers would be right out there waiting for you then the next thing you know we'd have a soviet sub following us. You know, we've had high-ranking Chinese and Russian Military personnel on our U.S. bases right here in the US. We should have blown the sub out of the water and said, "oops, next time don't get so *** close!" It wouldn't have sparked WWIII, would have mad some people and diplomats mad, but not a war. This stuff happens every single day people and the media hipes it up so we can all sit here and gripe about it cause we don't have anything else to do in our lives. Right.
You are obviously a Rumsfeld disciple.....
As that noted right-wing conspiracy-theorist(ha!) Garrison Keillor said in The Book of Guys, "Why is it that, when you read a story in the paper on subject you actually know something about, they get it two-thirds wrong?"
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