China said today it was "concerned" after a standoff in the Yellow Sea between a US Navy surveillance ship and two Chinese fishing vessels and accused the US vessel of contravening international laws.
The fifth incident of its kind in two months occurred on Friday in international waters about 170 miles from the Chinese mainland when the fishing vessels approached the USNS Victorious, US defence officials said.
The Chinese vessels came within 30 yards (metres) of the Victorious at one point, they said.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement the ship was operating in China's exclusive economic zone without permission and had violated Chinese and international rules and laws.
"We express our concern about this and demand the U.S. side take effective measures to ensure a similar incident does not happen again," Ma said in a brief statement posted on the ministry's website.
The Pentagon, which accused five Chinese fishing vessels of harassing another US surveillance ship in the South China Sea near Hainan island in March, cited the incident as an example of unsafe Chinese seamanship.
The Victorious,an ocean surveillance ship designed for anti-submarine warfare and underwater mapping, was conducting what the Pentagon called routine operations in the waters between China and the Korean peninsula when the two fishing vessels appeared.
Reuters