Washington: President-elect Donald Trump has said the US should let China keep the US Navy’s unmanned underwater glider that it seized in the South China Sea.
Trump tweeted Saturday: “We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!” His tweet came after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the underwater glider.
On Saturday morning, Trump took to Twitter to blast China for, as he described it, ripping the research drone out of the water.
Pentagon said the drone was seized Thursday while collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety.
The US military says that through “direct engagement” with the Chinese, it’s “secured an understanding” that China’s navy will return an underwater glider seized in the South China Sea.
Peter Cook, a spokesman for US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, said in a statement that the US had registered its objection to what the US is calling an “unlawful seizure” of the unmanned submerged device in international waters.
China said its navy seized a US Navy unmanned underwater glider to ensure the “safe navigation of passing ships.”
Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun issued a statement late Saturday saying that a Chinese navy lifeboat discovered an unknown device in the South China Sea on Thursday. It said, “In order to prevent this device from posing a danger to the safe navigation of passing ships and personnel, the Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device.”
The statement said that after verifying that the device was an American unmanned submerged device, “China decided to transfer it to the US through appropriate means.”
It also accused the US of deploying “ships in China’s presence to conduct renaissance and military surveying. China is resolutely opposed to this and requests the US stop such activities.”