China ups ante in US sea showdown

US president Barack Obama is playing tough with Beijing and refusing to back down in the escalating conflict over shipping rights in the South China Sea. Obama has upped the ante by sending a heavily armed destroyer into the area.

In the meantime, the Pentagon has made it abundantly clear that despite aggressive harassment from five small Chinese vessels, the USNS Impeccable — a surveillance ship — will continue on its controversial mission to map the ocean floor near the Chinese submarine base on Hainan Island.

It is unclear what action the Hawaii-based destroyer USS Chung-Hoon will take if the Chinese vessels return to harass the Impeccable. Moving between the Impeccable and Chinese boats could however risk a dangerous escalation.

A Pentagon official said, “Chung-Hoon is there, in the area, keeping an eye on Impeccable, which continues lawful military operations.”

Naval analysts have said over the last few days that the Impeccable has been monitoring Chinese submarine traffic and mapping the seabed. In case of a conflict with China, the surveillance data would help the US find Chinese submarines and destroy them.

The Impeccable’s activities have incensed Beijing, and last Sunday the five small boats turned up to block the ship’s path and came within 7.6m of it, which is considered dangerously close.