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China Says It Will Return the Underwater Drone It Seized From the US (thehill.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the international-incidents dept.

An anonymous reader quotes The Hill: China said Saturday it will return the unmanned U.S. drone it seized in the South China Sea, calling the issue "hyped up" by the U.S. "Upon confirming that the device was a U.S. underwater drone, the Chinese side decided to transfer it to the U.S. side in an appropriate manner," said the spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, Sr. Col. Yang Yujun, according to CNN. "China and the United States have been communicating about this process. It is inappropriate -- and unhelpful for a resolution -- that the U.S. has unilaterally hyped up the issue. We express our regret over that."
A Defense Ministry spokesman added that China opposes U.S. "surveillance and military surveys in waters facing China...and demands the U.S. cease such activities. China will stay alert over relevant U.S. activities and will take necessary measures to counter them."

19 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They know by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Also, Chinese officials looked inside and realized "Oh, we pretty much make all of these components. Not much we could learn from this, I guess."

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  2. Returned in a box by p51d007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Happens all the time. In the 70's, a Mig25 landed in Japan, pilot defected with the plane, and "owners manual". Russia was hopping mad and wanted it back, and they did...in a big box ;) I'm sure the US underwater drone, by the time it is returned will have been photographed, scanned, dismantled and every ounce of anything copied. It's how it works.

  3. Confucious say by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "It is inappropriate -- and unhelpful for a resolution -- that the U.S. has unilaterally hyped up the issue. We express our regret over that.""

    They express regret over the US being upset at their actions. Umm, okay.

    1. Re:Confucious say by vux984 · · Score: 2

      Is it a 'bad thing' ? Hard to say. It's certainly... disruptive, but disruptive isn't necessarily bad.

      However what makes it a mistake is that I have absolutely ZERO faith that Trump did it on purpose, or was even dimly aware of the hornets nest he stepped on when he did it.

      In Chess sometimes its a brilliant move to sacrifice your queen; but when its done without even fully aware of what you are doing, by a neophyte who barely knows chess... it still might be a brilliant move... but it probably wasn't, and is more likely to be a disaster.

      Trump doesn't even know the rules of the game yet. Let's not pretend he's a master statesman. He's not even a particularly great businessman.

    2. Re:Confucious say by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

      Really?

      And who owns the United States?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  4. Disassembled.... by stoicio · · Score: 3, Funny

    -parts photographed
    -boards xrayed
    -wiring logged
    -systems exported to solidworks for analysis

    We should have it back to you some time in April.

    Signed China

    1. Re:Disassembled.... by Solandri · · Score: 2

      This isn't some super-sophisticated robot submarine designed to spy on underwater Chinese communications (not that you could - EM signals only penetrate a few mm in seawater anyway). It's an underwater glider. It doesn't even have a motor. It moves by changing its density to alternately sink or rise, using its wings to convert that into forward motion - usually less than 1 knot. The electronics wake up every few seconds, measure the pressure to determine its depth, chirp the sonar to measure the distance to the bottom, sample the salinity and temperature, then go back to sleep. We use them in oceanography all the time for measuring temperature and salinity of the water column, and for mapping underwater terrain. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't identical to gliders NOAA uses.

  5. Key omission from American media by hackingbear · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you read the Chinese news report, the statement says it "seize the unknown object because it posed safety concern to the passing sea traffic". Of course, it is an excuse. But given we use the excuse of "freedom of navigation" to intrude within the 12 nm of their claimed island, it is a fair game.

    1. Re:Key omission from American media by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      'Freedom of navigation' is not an excuse, it's a centuries old diplomatic principle.

      It's still all colored by realpolitik. If the Chinese had a first rate navy things would be different. As it is, they are just posing for domestic consumption. It could all be different in 20 more years, but first the Chinese need to survive their economic bubble. I'm pretty confident that members of the Chinese central committee have real numbers in front of them and know they could be hanging from light posts in things go sideways.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Key omission from American media by mrchaotica · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Similarly, the phrase "waters facing China" in the quote in the summary is a lie. This was the open ocean, not "waters facing China."

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    3. Re:Key omission from American media by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      The golden gate straights are 'waters facing China'. 'Facing' doesn't mean anything.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    4. Re:Key omission from American media by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Informative

      There's no alternative interpretation of this bit of maritime.lae. if the original sea mount isn't above water at high tide then it isn't an island and pouring gravel and concrete on it does not make it an island, at least not for the purposes of extending maritime economic zones.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:Key omission from American media by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      And this the US, by continuing to do flyovers and sailbys, demonstrates that the preeminent naval power has no intention of surrendering the South China Sea to China.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  6. China says "what are you going to do, nuke us?" by mveloso · · Score: 3, Funny

    So we stole a drone and you freak out. I mean, we already stole islands and you did nothing. Why would you care about a drone?

  7. Re:They know by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Funny

    To meet the requirements some assembly would have to be done in the US so they leave the last wire connection for the US "factory". It gets shipped over to the US, unpacked, the cover taken off, the worker follows the diagram to connect the final wire (which actually doesn't do anything), puts the cover back on, and packs it back up. Voila, assembled in America.

  8. Re:They know by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

    Also, Chinese officials looked inside and realized "Oh, we pretty much make all of these components. Not much we could learn from this, I guess."

    Returned with a free firmware update!

  9. Production is ramping up. by trailerparkcassanova · · Score: 2

    Early next month you'll be able to pick one up on Aliexpress.

  10. Re:If you saw that, you were looking in a mirror by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 2

    Citations please!

    What would be the point? You might as well "cite" the sage quotations of the guy in the alley down the street whose hobby is inhaling gasoline fumes.

  11. We would do exactly the same thing by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If we found a Chinese drone within a few hundred miles of Los Angeles, you KNOW we would pick it up and turn it into an incident. What they are doing is no different. It's a risk we take deploying drones near other countries.