China on Wednesday confirmed an incident between a Chinese naval vessel and a U.S. warship in the South China Sea. The US government said a U.S. guided missile cruiser had avoided a collision with a Chinese warship maneuvering nearby.
The near-miss between the US ship and a Chinese warship operating near China's only aircraft carrier was the most significant U.S.-Chinese maritime incident in the since disputes in the South China Sea in 2009.
China's Defense Ministry said the Chinese naval vessel was conducting "normal patrols" when the two vessels "met", but from a separate news agency, the Chinese accused the US of intentionally provocative behavior.
It is very hard to know whether this encounter was really accidental or not because of the tensions over this issue. I think it was wrong, but inevitable, for the Chinese to blame the US for being deliberately provocative.
I think this is especially odd considering the dependency of trade between the US and China. Niether would be best off without the other
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