China tells navy to prepare for combat

**xinhui** · 10 Jan 12,, 04:12

construction of Type 056 Light Corvette started, in two yards.

**xinhui** · 10 Jan 12,, 04:14

052C LUYANG-II Class Destroyer number 3 (DDG140), 4,5 and 6

**xinhui** · 10 Jan 12,, 04:17

093 SHANG Class SSN -- program ended with only 3 copies. it is considered a failure. A follow up class is rumored on the work.

Photos taken in Hainan island

**xinhui** · 20 May 12,, 04:19

Originally Posted by xinhui

construction of Type 056 Light Corvette started, in two yards.

an update

According to folks from Hudong Shipyard in Shanghai, the lead boat of the 056 Class Corvette will be launched "within days".

**xinhui** · 20 May 12,, 04:21

Originally Posted by xinhui

Fast forward, same spot, guangzhou, another Type 054A

The newly launched 14th Type054A (16th Type054 over all) FFG 572 to bear the name 岳阳 (Yueyang). It is scheduled to commission with the 9th Destroyer Squadron, South Sea Fleet next year.

**xinhui** · 20 May 12,, 04:23

Originally Posted by xinhui

052C LUYANG-II Class Destroyer number 3 (DDG140), 4,5 and 6

DDG 151 Zhengzhou 052C number 4.

**JRT** · 21 May 12,, 00:12

Some more for your reading pleasure...

LGU backs Faeldon's Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal trip
By Jaime Laude
Updated May 17, 2012 07:00 PM

MANILA, Philippines - A flotilla of fishing boats are sailing to Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) on Friday to reinforce the country’s territorial claim over the rich Filipino fishing ground, 124 nautical miles from Zambales being claimed by China as part of its maritime domain.

Leading the Panatag fishing expedition is former Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and former Annapolis cadet Manny Albuera.

Fishermen from Batanes, Faeldon’s home province, along with fishermen from Masinloc, are slated to fish in Panatag Shoal which China has included in its declared fishing ban.

For more than a month now, Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) is the scene of a tense territorial standoff between the Philippines and China.

Given a chance, the group intends to once again the raise Philippine flag in one of the rocks in the area, said Kit Guerrero, speaking on behalf Faeldon and one of the planners of the fishing trip.

“We are already here in Masinloc. So far we don't see any glitches that would stall the voyage,” said Guerrero in a telephone interview.

Friday’s voyage as planned is to bring the fishermen to area to exercise their right to fish in the country’s territorial waters.

Besides the three fishing boats, local fishermen using their own boats are also expected to join the trip along with national and local mediamen.

Masinloc municipal secretary, Rjay Bautista, said they also intend to send a representative to the voyage.

“We fully support this move. Panatag Shoal is ours,” Bautista speaking on behalf of Mayor Desiree Edora said.

Military now mum on Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal situation

By Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star) Updated May 11, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (37)

MANILA, Philippines - Defense and military officials are now withholding comment on developments in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal off Zambales that is also being claimed by China.

“Statements on monitoring of the situation is no longer within our level,” a military official based in Northern Luzon told The STAR yesterday, referring to the ongoing standoff in Panatag Shoal, which is 124 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales.

The Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) under Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara has operational jurisdiction over Panatag Shoal.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is now dealing with all underlying matters resulting from the month-long territorial standoff.

“Huwag natin palakihin pa (Let’s not make this issue bigger),” Gazmin said, referring to the series of pronouncements coming from Beijing, including a claim made by a Chinese television commentator saying that the Philippines belongs to China.

China also declared its readiness for “any escalation” in the event the Panatag Shoal standoff worsens.

A month ago yesterday, two Chinese Maritime Surveillance Vessels (CMS) prevented the Philippine Navy flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar from arresting Chinese fishermen who were poaching inside the lagoon of Panatag Shoal.

The standoff continued after Beijing deployed one of its modern ships, the FLEC (Fisheries and Law Enforcement Command) 310 in the area in support of their other vessels that are now pre-positioned in the mouth of the lagoon.

Local fishermen from Masinloc, Zambales complained that Chinese vessels have barred them from entering Panatag Shoal.

Members of the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya dared presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda and Defense Secretary Gazmin to visit Panatag Shoal to see how Filipino fishermen are being barred from entering the lagoon in Panatag Shoal that is also called Bajo de Masinloc and Karburo by local fishermen.

“The people and the local government of Masinloc are telling the world that small fishermen are barred from entering Panatag Shoal,” said Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya president.

Masinloc Mayor Desiree Edora said that Chinese vessels have prevented local fishermen from fishing inside the lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc.

Edora’s municipal secretary RJay Bautista said that these recent incidents at Bajo de Masinloc have been recorded by the Navy and by the Nolcom troops who interviewed the fishermen following their return from Panatag Shoal last Sunday.

Meanwhile, the defense department is also mum on the decision of Chinese travel agencies to suspend tourist packages to the Philippines.

“Let us not blow that up. We’ll just let the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) answer that,” Gazmin said.

Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of think tank Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, dismissed the move of the Chinese travel agencies.

“That is not prudent for China to suspend tourist packages to the Philippines amid the Panatag Shoal standoff,” Banlaoi said.

“If that is true, it is not a friendly gesture, considering that years 2012 and 2013 have been declared years of friendly exchanges between the Philippines and China,” he added.

US sends nuclear-powered submarine near disputed shoal
By Jun Pasaylo
Updated May 15, 2012 04:15 PM

ZAMBALES, Philippines – A United States nuclear-powered submarine was spotted off the coast of Subic Bay Freeport Zone today at the height of the ongoing tension between the Philippines and China on its territorial dispute on Scarborough Shoal.

A source from the US Embassy said the attack submarine is on its routine port visit to Subic and is scheduled to depart from the Philippine waters on May 19.

The USS North Carolina docked at Subic Bay Freeport on Sunday.

The presence of the US war vessel came a day before the Chinese government sets to impose a one-and-half month fishing ban in large swaths of South China Sea starting May 16, including the disputed Scarborough.

Reports also disclose that more war vessels will be coming to the Philippine shores in the coming days.

Apart from the disputed shoal, the China Fisheries Administration Bureau announced that the ban covers the entire area of Spratlys and other islands and reefs dotting the South China Sea.

The ban was announced amid escalating tension between Manila and Beijing over Panatag, which the Philippines said has been part of Masinloc town in Zambales since Spanish times.

Chinese authorities has said the directive means no fishing will be allowed except for mono-layer gillnets, and hook and line fishing, adding that it will confiscate boats, fish catch and fishing gear of violators.

The Philippine government however was adamant that it will not heed on the imposition of fishing ban directive of the Chinese government, saying it has sovereign rights over a portion of the waters where Beijing plans to impose its directive.

“Our position is we do not recognize China’s fishing ban in as much as portions of the ban encompass our exclusive economic zone,” Philippine foreign affairs chief Alberto del Rosario said.

On Monday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) also vowed to continue its presence in Panatag Shoal amid China’s pronouncement.

Lt. Commander Rommel Supangan, acting PCG spokesman, said Monday that there’s no change in the presidential directive for the group’s Search and Rescue Vessel 003 (SRV-003) BRP Pampanga to stay put at the Panatag Shoal .

“So far the standing of the President is to maintain the presence of our ship and show our flag in the area,” Supangan said.

'US submarine port call scheduled before shoal row'
By Jaime Laude
Updated May 17, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The visit of a US submarine in Subic was a routine port call scheduled on April 3, before the standoff between Philippine and Chinese vessels in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal started, Philippine security officials said yesterday.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, however, said he was not notified of the port call, adding that he would be willing to visit the submarine USS North Carolina (SSN-777).

For its part, the US embassy said yesterday that the Philippine government was informed of the arrival of the submarine.

“Of course the Philippine Armed Forces was informed. We do what is required of us by the host government. It is not a surprise,” press attache Bettina Malone told The STAR.

Malone said the Virginia-class fast attack submarine, one of the most modern submarines in the US Navy, is in the country for a routine port visit.

Del Rosario, however, said he learned about the visit only in the newspapers.

“I am very curious if they are here for reprovisioning and I hope they invite me because it seems like a fine ship. I would like to take a good look at it,” del Rosario told reporters after he spoke before the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines.

Spokesman Peter Paul Galvez of the Philippines’ Department of National Defense described the visit as “a regular port call, just like that of any other foreign ships docking in our ports.”

Galvez stressed that the port call was not connected to the Panatag standoff.

The US submarine surfaced last Sunday in Subic Bay in Zambales where it is currently deployed to ensure freedom of navigation in the Western Pacific.

The USS Carolina’s visit came as the Philippines is embroiled in a standoff with China for more than a month now in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, 124 nautical miles off Zambales.

The USS Carolina is the fourth submarine in the Virginia class, the Navy’s newest class of submarine and the first ship designed for the post-Cold War environment.

The submarine is designed to operate with stealth, agility and endurance in the world’s littoral regions, as well as the deep oceans.

The cause-oriented group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) yesterday assailed the arrival of a United States nuclear-powered attack submarine in Subic, Zambales.

Bayan said the entry of the USS North Carolina might be a violation of the constitutional ban on the entry of nuclear weapons in the country.

“It’s as if US military bases are back in Subic (home of the former US naval base). Virtual basing and hosting of US warships are being justified by the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement. Philippine ports like Subic are again providing logistics support for US ships. We might see more of these port calls now that the US is rebalancing towards Asia,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes.

“The Philippines is de facto hosting US war ships presumably armed with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The problem is that under the Visiting Forces Agreement, the US neither confirms nor denies that its ships carry nuclear weapons. However, the presumption is that they do, especially the more advanced ships.”

Bayan said the entry of the high-tech US submarine could have negative repercussions in the Philippines’ dispute with China, saying perceived US involvement may further escalate tensions in the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, where there is an ongoing standoff involving Philippine and Chinese government vessels.

“The port calls made by US warships is part of a greater strategy to project US military power in the region. It is directed at all countries in the region, but most especially China, in

order to keep China subservient to US dictates,” Reyes said.

Bayan also expressed concern that the Philippines continues to play host for rest and recreation activities of US troops, saying this creates a host of social and legal issues.

“Aside from the historical fact that so-called rest and recreation activities for US troops breed prostitution, there is also the unresolved provision in the VFA which places erring US troops under the custody of the US government, even if convicted by a lower court,” Reyes added.

**JRT** · 21 May 12,, 01:04

I wouldn't want anybody to think I am being even a little alarmist in this. I don't think the USN and PLA(N) are anywhere near kicking off a new big shooting war in the SCS or any where else in the near future. But I would expect some more semi-hostile gamesmanship like that event ~3 years ago when a Chinese sub tore a towed sonar array off the stern of the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) in the water between Scarborough Shoal and Subic Bay.

Latest China-U.S. Navy incident with destroyer USS John S. McCain is part of rising trend

By Bill Meyer, The Plain Dealer --- Monday, June 15, 2009

BEIJING -- China has called the latest collision between Chinese and U.S. naval vessels an accident, but many of the elements echo previous altercations that have raised concerns that China's navy is growing increasingly aggressive in its patrols of the waters off its coast.

In last week's incident, as before, a Chinese submarine was found to be shadowing a U.S. Navy ship -- possibly undetected by sonar equipment being towed behind the American destroyer.

The South China Sea, where the collision occurred and where the U.S. Navy operates amid a complex patchwork of competing territorial claims, is also a familiar backdrop for such incidents.

Even the damaged sonar array that was hit by the Chinese submarine has featured in past confrontations.

While not every incident gets reported, analysts say evidence suggests they're happening more frequently as Beijing flexes its improved naval capabilities and asserts its objections to U.S. Naval activity in disputed waters.

"We're seeing an upswing in incidents that reflects an increasingly aggressive Chinese capability, especially in what it considers to be its own territorial waters," said Alex Neil, head of the Asia Program at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Chinese state-run newspapers on Monday labeled last week's collision as an accident, with the official China Daily citing Chinese military experts as saying that it probably occurred due to a misjudgment of distance.

No injuries were reported either aboard the sub or on the destroyer USS John S. McCain, and the extent of the damage to the towed radar was unknown.

Yin Zhuo, a senior researcher with the People's Liberation Army's Navy Equipment Research Center, said the American destroyer appeared to have failed to detect the submarine, while the Chinese vessel set its distance from the McCain assuming it was not towing sonar arrays, according to the paper.

The sophisticated and expensive arrays are used to remotely detect the presence of submarines, mines and other underwater objects. They are connected to ships and submarines by cables up to a few miles (kilometers) long.

Although the incident occurred in international waters reportedly northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines, China vigorously opposes all U.S. Naval activity and intelligence gathering in the region.

Eyewitnesses to a March confrontation in the South China Sea say sailors aboard Chinese ships wielded a boat hook in an apparent attempt to snag a U.S. surveillance ship's sonar array tow line.

China regards the entire South China Sea and island groups within it as its own and interprets international law as giving it the right to police foreign naval activity there.

The U.S. doesn't take a position on sovereignty claims to the sea but insists on the Navy's right to transit the area and collect surveillance data.

Neither military would say much about last week's incident.

China's Defense Ministry did not respond to questions sent by fax Monday, while calls to its offices rang unanswered. The U.S. Pacific Fleet added nothing to its brief statement Sunday that merely confirmed that the sonar had been damaged last Wednesday.

The Chinese reports did not discuss the direct cause of the collision or the nature of the Chinese sub's mission.

Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, a frequent commentator on military matters, appeared to blame the U.S., reiterating standard rhetoric that its actions pose a threat to Beijing.

"The best way to avoid such collisions is for the Pentagon to stop its unfriendly mores toward China in this region," Luo was quoted as saying in China Daily.

Pentagon officials have said there were four incidents earlier this year where Chinese-flagged fishing vessels maneuvered close to unarmed U.S. ships crewed by civilians and used by the Pentagon to do underwater surveillance and submarine hunting missions.

And about three years ago, a Chinese submarine surfaced just five miles (eight kilometers) away from the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and its escorts during exercises off Okinawa. It still isn't clear whether the sub, which was within torpedo firing range of the carrier, had been detected.

Such incidents are expected to grow as the 225,000-sailor People's Liberation Army Navy boosts both the size and quality of its submarine fleet. China already operates more subs than any other Asian nation, with up to 10 nuclear-powered vessels and as many as 60 diesel-electric subs, while a major new submarine base is reportedly under construction on the island province of Hainan in the South China Sea.

China has so far largely rebuffed U.S. calls for greater transparency and operational communication to avoid such incidents. China's military has only recently begun to drop its veil of secrecy and limits most military exchanges with other nations to arms sales and ceremonial visits.

Neil, of the Royal Institute, said that without greater efforts between the navies to reach an agreement on how to avoid misunderstandings and improve communication, the sides risk the possibility of a far more serious collision or clash resulting in the loss of life or vessels.

"We're going to see more of the same and the potential for a serious incident will rise. There needs to be a discussion about standing operating procedure," he said.

US think-tank warns: China spat to worsen
05/18/2012

WASHINGTON D.C. - China’s growing belligerence in disputed waters of the South China Sea will only grow and worsen, according to testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“China has a coherent multi-dimensional approach to global competition which also includes the domination of sea-lanes and civil airspace in East Asia. This is one of Beijing’s top strategic goals, not just for economic and military advantage, but also for domestic political legitimacy and regional diplomatic propaganda,” said John Tkacik Jr., Director of the Future Asia Project.

The Future Asia Project is part of the Washington DC-think tank International Strategy and Assessment Center that specializes on American security issues.

“China’s increasingly adamantine territorial sea claims in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea is certain to be resolved only one of two ways: either China gets what it wants or it will use armed conflict to enforce its so-called ‘core interests’,” Tkacik told the congressional panel last March.

“China’s military has systematically garrisoned several chains of submerged coral shoals in the Spratlys west of the southern Philippine island of Palawan, secretly emplacing huge caissons of concrete in their shallow water and constructing massive platforms and anchorages. The Chinese forcefully ejected Philippines troops from Mischief Reef in 1995, and the Philippines has been complaining about it ever since,” he testified.

Tkacik said China was tightening its strategic presence in the South China Sea. He quoted China’s East Fleet deputy commander Admiral Zhang Huachen’s explanation: “With the expansion of the country's economic interests, the navy wants to better protect the country's transportation routes and the safety of our major sea lanes.”

He listed recent incidents involving China and other countries.

April 2001 – Chinese fighter jet collides with an American “Orion” patrol plane off Hainan Island.

June 11, 2009 – Chinese submarine cuts the sonar array cable being towed by the USS John McCain about 140 miles northwest of Subic Bay.

August 2011 – Chinese ships challenged an Indian Navy ship transiting two Vietnamese ports.

February 2012 – Chinese vessels prevented Vietnamese fishing boats from seeking storm refuge in the Paracel Islands

A month after Tkacik’s testimony, Chinese ships stopped the Philippines from arresting Chinese fishermen caught harvesting endangered and protected marine life in Scarborough Shoal, about a hundred miles off the main Philippine island of Luzon.

The stand-off has triggered protests in Manila as well as from Filipinos who picketed Chinese consular offices in major US cities.

In March 2010, Tkacik said, Chinese assistant foreign minister Cui Tianki told US officials that its claim to the South China Sea was at par with its claims to Tibet and Taiwan.

“Thereafter, Chinese diplomats proclaimed a ‘core interest’ in the South China Sea to progressively more senior Americans – and Southeast Asians as well. In tandem, Chinese security scholars declared in the official media that “by adding the South China Sea to its core interests, China has shown its determination to secure its maritime resources and strategic waters,” he explained.

State Secretary Hillary Clinton responded shortly after by declaring “The United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia's maritime commons and respect for international law in the South China Sea.”

Following the Scarborough Shoal stand-off, China abruptly rejected banana exports from the Philippines and discouraged Chinese tourists from visiting the country.

Tkacik observed China resorts to “economic punishment” of Southeast Asian neighbors that “have the temerity to challenge new Chinese assertions of territorial sovereignty in South China Sea waters.”

A September 2010 flare-up in the Japanese Senkaku islands that China also claims as hers led to the arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain who rammed a Japanese coast guard cutter, Tkacik recounted.

“This was followed by three weeks of steadily escalating diplomatic demarches, protests and threats culminating in a de facto Chinese embargo on exports of Chinese rare-earths oxides (essential in the manufacture of advanced electronic 23 devices) to Japan,” he said.

“Is China’s expanding security footprint in the South China Sea a problem for the US as well as Southeast Asia?,” Tkacik asked, “As former Asia policy aide to President George W. Bush, Michael Green, put it: ‘The Chinese are elbowing, seeing how far they can go before the referee blows the whistle on them and they get a yellow card . . . This is also a [Chinese] signal to Vietnam, the Philippines, and the smaller countries in the region, that ‘look, if we can do this to the Americans, what chance do you think you have?’”

**JRT** · 21 May 12,, 02:11

And from a litlle earlier...

China sub stalked U.S. fleet

The Washington Times --- November 13, 2006

A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned.

The surprise encounter highlights China’s continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S., despite Pentagon efforts to try to boost relations with Beijing’s communist-ruled military.

The submarine encounter with the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships also is an embarrassment to the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, who is engaged in an ambitious military exchange program with China aimed at improving relations between the two nations’ militaries.

Disclosure of the incident comes as Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet, is making his first visit to China. The four-star admiral was scheduled to meet senior Chinese military leaders during the weeklong visit, which began over the weekend.

According to the defense officials, the Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine shadowed the Kitty Hawk undetected and surfaced within five miles of the carrier Oct. 26.

The surfaced submarine was spotted by a routine surveillance flight by one of the carrier group’s planes.

The Kitty Hawk battle group includes an attack submarine and anti-submarine helicopters that are charged with protecting the warships from submarine attack.

According to the officials, the submarine is equipped with Russian-made wake-homing torpedoes and anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Kitty Hawk and several other warships were deployed in ocean waters near Okinawa at the time, as part of a routine fall deployment program. The officials said Chinese submarines rarely have operated in deep water far from Chinese shores or shadowed U.S. vessels.

A Pacific Command spokesman declined to comment on the incident, saying details were classified. Pentagon spokesmen also declined to comment.

The incident is a setback for the aggressive U.S.-China military exchange program being promoted by Adm. Fallon, who has made several visits to China in recent months in an attempt to develop closer ties.

However, critics of the program in the Pentagon say China has not reciprocated and continues to deny U.S. military visitors access to key facilities, including a Beijing command center.

In contrast, Chinese military visitors have been invited to military exercises and sensitive U.S. facilities. Additionally, military intelligence officials said Adm. Fallon has restricted U.S. intelligence-gathering activities against China, fearing that disclosure of the activities would upset relations with Beijing.

The restrictions are hindering efforts to know more about China’s military buildup, the officials said. “This is a harbinger of a stronger Chinese reaction to America’s military presence in East Asia,” said Richard Fisher, a Chinese military specialist with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, who called the submarine incident alarming.

“Given the long range of new Chinese sub-launched anti-ship missiles and those purchased from Russia, this incident is very serious,” he said. “It will likely happen again, only because Chinese submarine captains of 40 to 50 new modern submarines entering their navy will want to test their mettle against the 7th Fleet.”

Pentagon intelligence officials say China’s military buildup in recent years has produced large numbers of submarines and surface ships, seeking to control larger portions of international waters in Asia, a move U.S. officials fear could restrict the flow of oil from the Middle East to Asia in the future.

Between 2002 and last year, China built 14 new submarines, including new Song-class vessels and several other types, both diesel- and nuclear-powered.

Since 1996, when the United States dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups to waters near Taiwan in a show of force, Beijing also has bought and built weapons designed specifically to attack U.S. aircraft carriers and other warships. “The Chinese have made it clear that they understand the importance of the submarine in any kind of offensive or defensive strategy to deal with a military conflict,” an intelligence official said recently.

In late 2004, China dispatched a Han-class submarine to waters near Guam, Taiwan and Japan. Japan’s military went on emergency alert after the submarine surfaced in Japanese waters.

Beijing apologized for the incursion. The Pentagon’s latest annual report on Chinese military power stated that China is investing heavily in weapons designed “to interdict, at long ranges, aircraft carrier and expeditionary strike groups that might deploy to the western Pacific.”

It could not be learned whether the U.S. government lodged a protest with China’s government over the incident or otherwise raised the matter in official channels.

Report: Chinese ships confronted Kitty Hawk

KYODO NEWS SERVICE | JAN 15, 2008

TAIPEI — A Chinese attack submarine and destroyer shadowed U.S. warships in November in the Taiwan Strait, sparking a 28-hour standoff that brought the group to a battle-ready halt in the tense waters, a report in a Taiwan daily said Tuesday.

The confrontation occurred as the Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk and other ships in its battle group were heading back to Japan following China’s sudden cancellation of a long-scheduled holiday port call in Hong Kong, the China Times said, citing U.S. military sources.

The carrier strike group encountered Chinese destroyer Shenzhen and a Song-class sub in the strait on Nov. 23, causing the group to halt and ready for battle, as the Chinese vessels also stopped amid the 28-hour confrontation, the Chinese-language daily reported.

The Kitty Hawk battle group had planned to pass the Thanksgiving holiday in Hong Kong as it had done in previous years, but China refused it entry without giving a reason.

By the time China reversed its decision, the U.S. ships had already turned around and headed for their home port in Japan. China later told the U.S. that its earlier refusal was a “misunderstanding.”

But that incident came on the heels of China’s refusal of safe harbor in Hong Kong for two Navy minesweepers seeking refuge from a brewing storm. Due to that refusal, the ships had to get refueled at sea so they could return to their home port in Sasebo, Japan.

The two incidents have ruffled feathers in Washington.

Adm. Timothy Keating, who heads the U.S. Pacific Command, is in Beijing this week to discuss what he has called China’s “perplexing” refusals, its worrisome weapons programs and U.S.-China military ties.

He told reporters Tuesday that U.S. warships will cross through the Taiwan Strait whenever they choose to.

“We don’t need China’s permission to go through the Taiwan Strait,” Keating said, stressing that it is international waters. “We will exercise our free right of passage whenever and wherever we choose.”

China has expressed its “grave concern” to the U.S. over the Kitty Hawk’s transit through the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its own, vowing to attack the self-ruled island if it moves to formalize its de facto independence.

The U.S., Taiwan’s chief security benefactor, is legally obligated to help defend the island in the face of Chinese saber-rattling.

In 2006, a Chinese attack sub stalked the Kitty Hawk without being detected until it surfaced within firing range of the group.

Last November’s incident, however, could have been unintentional as the Shenzhen was also headed to Tokyo for an historic port call there, just as the Kitty Hawk was denied Hong Kong entry.

Destroyers are known to travel with a submarine escort.

The confrontation ended without incident as all vessels continued on course toward Japan by Nov. 24.

**JRT** · 21 May 12,, 03:12

And there were those 2009 incidents of harrassment of USNS Victorious (T-AGOS-19) ocean surveillance ship, a SWATH hull spook-boat operated by the US Military Sealift Command Special Missions Program.

Chinese boats harassed U.S. ship, officials say

May 05, 2009 | By Barbara Starr CNN Pentagon Correspondent

Two Chinese fishing vessels came "dangerously close" to a U.S. military ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China last week -- the fifth such incident in the past few months, two U.S. officials told CNN Tuesday.

The officials -- who could not be identified because the incident has not yet been formally announced --said the two Chinese boats approached the USNS Victorious, a military sealift command ship, in international waters Friday in the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and North and South Korea.

Over a period of several hours, the officials said, the Chinese vessels repeatedly came close to the Victorious in what was described as deliberate maneuvers -- once coming within 30 yards of the U.S. vessel.

Both officials said the Chinese vessels came to a dead halt in front of the Victorious at one point, in heavy fog, causing the U.S. ship to have to come to a dangerous sudden stop. The officials did not know the exact size of the Chinese ships but described them as being smaller than the 235-foot long U.S. vessel.

The crew of the Victorious turned its fire hoses on to keep the Chinese ships away but did not directly spray them at the smaller boats, one official said. The Victorious also sounded its danger alarm system and radioed for assistance to a larger Chinese fisheries service vessel nearby. That vessel did shine a light on the small Chinese vessels but took no further action, the official said.

The USNS Victorious is an unarmed ocean surveillance ship operated by a civilian mariner crew working for the Military Sealift Command. The mission is to conduct authorized undersea listening operations in international waters, according to the U.S. Navy. There is video of this latest incident, but it has not been released by the Pentagon.

The Victorious was involved in another incident with a Chinese ship on March 4 in the Yellow Sea, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the Victorious and crossed the U.S. vessel's bow "at a range of about 1,400 yards in darkness without notice or warning," according to a Pentagon statement.

The following day, a Chinese Y-12 maritime surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys of the Victorious at an altitude of about 400 feet and a range of 500 yards, the Pentagon said.