Chinese Sub Came Close To U.S. Ships
A Chinese submarine came close to the USS Kitty Hawk carrier group in the Pacific Ocean last month, a top U.S. naval commander confirmed Tuesday, adding the encounter could have triggered an "unforeseen" incident.
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.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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.
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They 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.