Chinese Navy Ships Spotted Off Aleutian Islands
Source: Station KUCB, Unalaska, Alaska
As President Obama tours northwest Alaska, five Chinese navy ships have been spotted in the Bering Sea off southwest Alaska.
Three of Chinas surface-warfare ships, a resupply vessel and a landing craft were seen in international waters off the Aleutian Islands, according to Pentagon officials.
This is the first time weve observed Peoples Liberation Army navy ships in the Bering Sea, Commander Bill Urban, spokesperson for Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, said. We do respect the freedom of all nations to operate military vessels in international waters in accordance with international law. So, no reason why they shouldnt be there.
Urban declined to say how long the U.S. military has been tracking the ships or just where they were located in the Bering Sea.
Read more: http://kucb.org/news/article/chinese-navy-ships-spotted-off-aleutian-islands/
Note to moderators re 12 hour time limit for latest breaking news. Although this report is datelined Wednesday, it was reported on the source's website approximately 6 hours ago, Unalaksa, Alaska time. This radio station is the westernmost radio station in the United States.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Political scientist Scott Harold at the Rand Corporation think-tank in Arlington, Virginia, said China wants to show it can project military power farther and farther from its own shores.
Additionally, China has a fairly strong interest in the Arctic and is interested in making clear China has interests at stake there and wants to be considered a stakeholder. For several years, Chinese officials have referred to China as a "near-Arctic nation."
In late August, China and Russia held their biggest joint naval exercise to date in the Sea of Japan. State-sponsored media in Russia say 22 ships and 20 aircraft took part in that exercise.
An unnamed U.S. official told the Associated Press the Chinese ships moved into the Bering Sea near Alaska after joining in a naval exercise with Russia.
(from OP link)