Global Courant
STORY: The US Navy has released video of what it calls an “unsafe interaction” with a Chinese warship, in which the Chinese ship cuts within 500 feet of a US vessel.
The US military said the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and a Canadian frigate were making a routine transit through the sensitive Taiwan Strait at the time.
The video shows the Chinese ship sailing in the path of the destroyer, which was reportedly forced to slow down to avoid a collision.
Canadian Naval Commander Paul Mountford witnessed the incident at close quarters.
(HMCS Montreal Commander / Paul Mountford)
“The fact that this was pre-announced over the radio clearly indicated that this was intentional.
“Maneuvering close together, 150 meters, is very scary, and you never want to be that close to another ship, because too many things can go wrong and you could even have a collision.”
The Chinese military has reprimanded the United States and Canada for the joint exercise, and Beijing said on Monday their ship was operating in a legal and safe manner.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s defense ministry called on China to respect the right to freedom of navigation.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that the Taipei government strongly rejects.
The incident comes as Beijing and Washington swapped blame for the failure to hold military talks. Tensions between the two over trade, Taiwan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have escalated in recent weeks.
This is the second such encounter in recent days. On May 26, the US said a Chinese fighter jet performed an “unnecessarily aggressive” maneuver near a US military aircraft in international airspace over the South China Sea.
