AFP,WASHINGTON:  China has returned a US underwater probe it seized in the South China Sea, the Pentagon confirmed after Beijing’s capture of the craft prompted a dispute between the two powers.
The Chinese navy handed over the drone near the location it had been seized, the Pentagon said, repeating US condemnation of Beijing’s actions in what it says are international waters.
“This incident was inconsistent with both international law and standards of professionalism for conduct between navies at sea,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement late Monday.
“The US has addressed those facts with the Chinese through the appropriate diplomatic and military channels, and have called on Chinese authorities to comply with their obligations under international law and to refrain from further efforts to impede lawful US activities.”
A Chinese naval vessel seized the probe around 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines last week in an incident that heightened already tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The Pentagon statement said the US Navy drone was “conducting routine operations in the international waters of the South China Sea in full compliance with international law.”
For its part, China said the handover of the small vessel was “completed smoothly” after “friendly consultations” between both sides, according to a short defense ministry statement on its website.
Pentagon officials had previously said the drone would be handed over to the crew of a US warship in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal.
Pentagon officials said last week that the Chinese had “unlawfully” grabbed the marine probe, which they described as a craft that gathers unclassified data—including water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity—that can be used to help submarines navigate and determine sonar ranges in murky waters.
China said it snatched the craft because it might pose a safety hazard to other vessels. It also said it “strongly opposed” US reconnaissance activities and had asked Washington to stop.