The American oceanographic survey ship which controls the underwater drone seized by China had been spying against the Communist nation posing a threat to Chinese naval ships in the South China Sea, a state-run daily has said while claiming that such activities by the US Navy were “very rampant” in the strategic region.
“We welcome that the Chinese navy is conducting regular ‘verification and examination’ of devices dispatched by the US to collect intelligence in China’s surrounding waters in future. This should go along with US sabotage activities in China’s periphery,” an editorial posted on the web edition of the state-run Global Times daily said.
“The US claimed that the glider was collecting unclassified data such as salinity and water temperature, which are routine operations in accordance with international law. However, this argument is absurd,” the daily said.