China returns US underwater drone seized in South China Sea
BEIJING — China on Tuesday handed back to the United States an underwater drone it had seized last week in an incident that raised tensions in a relationship that has been tested by President-elect Donald Trump’s signals of a tougher policy toward Beijing.
Trump has riled the Chinese leadership by saying he might reconsider U.S. policy toward Taiwan, the self-ruled island the mainland claims as its territory.
The Chinese navy vessel that seized the drone returned it near where it was seized, and it was received by the USS Mustin about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. Cook said Washington considered the seizure illegal.
“This incident was inconsistent with both international law and standards of professionalism for conduct between navies at sea,” he said, adding that the U.S. has called on China to refrain from “further efforts to impede lawful U.S. activities.”