BEIJING — China’s weekend scrap with a U.S. Navy surveillance ship is drawing attention to a new submarine base that Beijing is using to strengthen its presence on the strategically vital South China Sea that it claims as its own territory.
The U.S. says the Navy mapping ship USNS Impeccable was operating legally when it was harassed by Chinese boats in international waters about 75 miles off China’s Hainan Island. China’s foreign ministry has said the U.S. claim isn’t true.
In Washington on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged from a private meeting to say the countries agreed on the need to reduce tensions and avoid a repeat of the confrontation.
But neither side yielded in their conflicting versions of events, even as they prepare for a much-anticipated first meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama at next month’s G20 summit in London.
Defense Department officials say the Impeccable was on a mission to seek out threats such as submarines and was towing a sonar apparatus that scans and listens for subs, mines and torpedoes.
With its numerous Chinese military installations, Hainan offers rich hunting for such surveillance.
China’s claim to the entire South China Sea overlaps with those of a half-dozen other nations, leading to occasional clashes and standoffs.
Late Wednesday, China’s Defense Ministry weighed in on the matter publicly for the first time, issuing a statement defending its action at sea.
“We demand the United States respect our legal interests and security concerns,” ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said.
