During a routine patrol in the Bering Sea, a US Coast Guard vessel encountered several Chinese warships in international waters, but within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the USA, reported the Associated Press, quoted by BTA.
The crew of the ship “Kimble“ has spotted three vessels about 200 km away. north of Amchit Strait in the Aleutian Islands, the Coast Guard said. Shortly thereafter, a Coast Guard helicopter spotted a fourth Chinese vessel about 135 km away. north of the Amut Strait. All four Chinese vessels were “passing through international waters but within the US EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the US coast,”, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The Chinese ships have announced that their objective was “freedom of navigational operations”.
„The Chinese naval presence operated in accordance with international rules and norms. We have met that presence with our own presence to ensure that there is no harm to US interests in the maritime area around Alaska,” said Rear Admiral Megan Dean, commander of Coast Guard District Seventeen.
The coast guard added that there is no requirement for foreign countries to contact the country before entering their exclusive economic zone, and in this case the Chinese ships responded when contacted by radio.
The US Coast Guard did not respond to questions about how long the Chinese vessels had been in the exclusive economic zone, but said the ship “Kimble” and the helicopter crew watched them as they passed south of the Aleutian Islands.
The sighting of the ships comes a week after the Chinese navy began its annual joint patrol with the Russian navy in the Pacific Ocean. The patrol is smaller than in previous years, including last August, when more than 10 ships from China and Russia formed a flotilla off Alaska.
„Our armed forces must be prepared for increased Chinese and joint Sino-Russian military activity off the coast of Alaska,” US Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said in a statement after being informed of the Chinese presence.
„I also met yesterday morning with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and specifically raised this issue - how America needs to be more prepared for increased activity in the Arctic and also to let the people of Alaska know that our armed forces are ready to defend our state and our country," Sullivan said.
The US military routinely conducts what it calls freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters in Asia claimed by China, deploying Navy ships to navigate waterways such as the South China Sea. The US says freedom of navigation is in America's national interest.
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Source: www.bta.bg