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Showing posts from December 18, 2016

CATCH OF THE DAY: REFLECTIONS ON THE CHINESE SEIZURE OF A U.S. OCEAN GLIDER

By Heiko Borchert On 15 December 2016, China seized an  Ocean Glider , an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), used by the U.S. Navy to conduct oceanographic tasks in international waters about 50-100 nautical miles  northwest of the Subic Bay port  on the Philippines. Available information suggests that the glider had been deployed from USNS  Bowditch  and was captured by Chinese sailors that came alongside the glider and grabbed it “despite the radioed protest from the  Bowditch  that it was U.S. property in international waters,” as the  Guardian  reported. The U.S. has “ called upon China  to return the UUV immediately.” On 17 December 2016 a  spokesman of the Chinese Defense Ministry  said China would return the UUV to the “United States in an appropriate manner.” Initial legal assessments by U.S. scholars like  James Kraska and Paul Pedrozo  suggest the capture is violating the law of the sea, as the unmanned glider can be defined as a vessel in international maritime law tha