(NBC News) — A Chinese Navy ship stole a U.S. Navy unmanned underwater vehicle — a type of drone — from international waters Thursday, according to a defense official.
A U.S. Navy Ocean Glider Unmanned Underwater Vehicle was collecting data during what the official called a routine survey approximately 50 nautical miles NW of Subic Bay, in the Philippines.
The glider was being retrieved by the USS Bowditch, an oceanographic research vessel, when a Chinese ship that was already shadowing the Bowditch swooped in and “unlawfully retrieved it.”
“They stole it,” the official said. The U.S. established bridge to bridge communications with the Chinese but they responded by saying that they were returning to normal operations and then left the area.
The issue is being addressed through diplomatic channels, the official said, adding that the U.S. has already issued a formal demarche, or messaged request to China.
The incident follows a series of tense exchanges with China, including that nation’s sharp rebuke of president-elect Donald Trump’s phone call with Taiwan’s president in a departure from decades-long policy toward the island prefecture.
Two Chinese military aircraft intercepted a U.S. military reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea in May. And in October, a U.S. destroyer sailed near the artificial islands built by China in the disputed waters of the South China Sea in a move that was seen as an open challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims.
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