In yet another swipe at China, United States President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said that America should let the Communist giant keep the Navy’s unmanned underwater drone after Beijing agreed to return in an “appropriate manner” the device it had seized in the disputed South China Sea (SCS). The incident is among the most serious military confrontations between the two powers for decades.
(The U.S. lodged a formal diplomatic complaint and demanded the drone back. On Saturday, China slammed the U.S. for “making a fuss” over the seizure of its underwater drone and said it would return the device in an “appropriate manner.”
Defence Ministry spokesperson Senior Colonel Yang Yujun dismissed the U.S. allegations, insisting that China seized the underwater glider to ensure the safe navigation of passing ships.)
“We don’t want it”
“We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back — let them keep it!” Mr. Trump tweeted, hours after Pentagon announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the drone.
The Pentagon had alleged that the drone was unlawfully seized by China on December 15 in the SCS while it was being recovered by a U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship.
Mr. Trump’s latest tweet was the second time the President-elect had blasted China for the seizure.
Earlier, he said they stole it
Earlier, he accused China of stealing the American drone.
“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters — rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act,” Mr. Trump tweeted, misspelling unprecedented.
He later reissued the tweet, correcting the spelling.
Needling China, time and again
Mr. Trump has repeatedly infuriated China in recent weeks, questioning decades-old U.S. policy on Taiwan, making a phone call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and calling Beijing a currency manipulator.
