Footage has emerged showing a Chinese warship almost colliding with a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Taiwan Strait as tensions continue to strain between Washington and Beijing.
The video, published by Canadian outlet Global News and widely shared on social media, appears to show the Chinese vessel approach the U.S. ship and passing within 150 yards of the destroyer.
On Saturday, the U.S. Navy's Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) said that the Chinese vessel "executed maneuvers in an unsafe manner," close to the U.S.S. Chung-Hoon, which was moving through the Taiwan Strait on June 3, alongside a Canadian frigate, according to reports from HMCS Montreal.
The Chinese ship "overtook Chung-Hoon on their port side and crossed their bow at 150 yards," the U.S. military said. The U.S. destroyer maintained its course and slowed down to prevent a collision, USINDOPACOM added.
The Chinese ship then "crossed Chung-Hoon's bow a second time starboard to port at 2,000 yards and remained off Chung-Hoon's port bow," the military said in a statement. It came as close as 150 yards and "its actions violated the maritime 'Rules of the Road' of safe passage in international waters," the U.S. Navy release continued.
🇨🇳🚢🇺🇸 Today a Chinese warship nearly rammed a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait - PRC allegedly disrupts Canada-U.S. exercises in the South China Sea
— Hawkeye1812Z (@Hawkeye1745) June 3, 2023
#2 China shows what it thinks about US forces in and over the Taiwan street. https://t.co/hU7lxtBThO pic.twitter.com/CulsMPNIly
"The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows," the statement continued.
Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry via email.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military released footage of a Chinese fighter jet performing "an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver" close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft on May 26.
The pilot "flew directly in front of the nose" of the U.S. aircraft, and forced the plane to "fly through its wake turbulence," in international airspace over the South China Sea, USINDOPACOM said in a statement.
In April, the Chinese Defense Ministry said it had tracked "every move" of the U.S. Navy's guided-missile destroyer, the U.S.S. Milius, as it passed through the Taiwan Strait following Chinese military drills in the region.
On Sunday, China's Defense Minister, Li Shangfu, said that "a severe conflict or confrontation between China and the U.S. will be an unbearable disaster for the world."
"The U.S. have different systems and are different in many other ways," he told the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in comments reported by Reuters.
"However, this should not keep the two sides from seeking common ground and common interests to grow bilateral ties and deepen cooperation," he added.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have been heightened by a series of incidents, including when then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in early August 2022.
The visit drew strong condemnation from Beijing, and sparked large-scale Chinese military drills around the island.
In early February, the U.S. military shot down what Washington called a Chinese spy balloon over South Carolina.
"The balloon, which was being used by the PRC [People's Republic of China] in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on February 4. Beijing had said the balloon was a weather device.
"I can assure you this was not for civilian purposes," Pentagon Press Secretary, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said shortly after the balloon was shot down.
"Exaggerating or hyping up the 'China threat' narrative is not conducive to building trust or improving ties between our two countries, nor can it make the U.S. safer," Chinese Foreign Ministry press secretary, Mao Ning, said in the wake of the incident.
Update 06/04/23 at 9.25 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
