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China's Navy Trolls US Destroyer: "Hope To See You Again"
On Thursday, we brought you Ash Carter and his “big stick” (you’re welcome) which he is busy waving around on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the South Pacific.

Ultimately, the Defense Secretary was making the rounds in an effort to prove to Washington’s regional allies that the US is “serious” about deterring Chinese “aggression” in the Spratlys.
We doubt we need to recap the story, so we’ll keep it brief, but Beijing has constructed some 3,000 acres of new “sovereign” territory atop reefs in The South China Sea. The PLA then proceeded to build runways, cement factories, and all manner of other questionable facilities on the new islands, which unnerved America’s South Pacific allies.
Initially, the US tried to contain the situation with a series of brave pronouncements and when that didn’t stop China from continuing to deploy the dredgers, Obama sentt a guided missile destroyer to Subi.
Thankfully - for those who don't wish to witness World War III - China didn't fire on or otherwise surround the USS Lassen and thus Beijing took the high road. The "pass-by" was one of the most well documented geopolitical events of the year and now, we have an account of the communication that occurred between the US Navy and the PLA. Here's Reuters with more on the hilarious exhchange:
As soon as the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached 12-nautical-mile territorial limits around one of China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea last week, a Chinese warship shadowing its movements began demanding answers.
"'Hey, you are in Chinese waters. What is your intention?'," it asked, as recounted to reporters on Thursday by Commander Robert Francis, commanding officer of the Lassen.
His crew replied that they were operating in accordance with international law, and intended to transit past the island, carrying out what U.S. officials have called a freedom-of-navigation exercise designed to challenge China's claims to the strategic waterway.
The response from the Chinese destroyer?
"The same query, over and over," said Francis, speaking onboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt as it sailed 150 to 200 nautical miles from the southern tip of the Spratly archipelago, a chain of contested islands where China's seven artificial outposts have taken shape in barely two years.
The Chinese destroyer shadowed the Lassen for 10 days before and after its Oct. 27 patrol near the artificial islands, said Francis. The Lassen got to within six to seven nautical miles from the nearest Chinese land formation, he added.
But not all U.S.-Chinese naval interactions are tense, especially when things are slow on the high seas.
"A few weeks ago we were talking to one of the ships that was accompanying us, a Chinese vessel ... (We) picked up the phone and just talked to him like, 'Hey, what are you guys doing this Saturday? Oh, we got pizza and wings. What are you guys eating? Oh, we're doing this. Hey, we're planning for Halloween as well'." The intent, Francis said, is "to show them ... that we're normal sailors, just like them, have families, just like them."
Eventually, the Chinese destroyer that had followed the Lassen on its mission past the artificial islands peeled away.
"They were very cordial the entire time ... even before and after the Spratly islands transit," Francis said.
"When they left us they said, 'Hey, we're not going to be with you anymore. Wish you a pleasant voyage. Hope to see you again'."
We don't think it's necessary to comment further on the interactions described above, but we would note that the US is set to conduct these "patrols" twice every three months.
We'll leave it to readers to extrapolate on the meaning of "hope to see you again," and on that note, we'll simply close with the following quote from China's latest defense white paper:
On the issues concerning China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, some of its offshore neighbors take provocative actions and reinforce their military presence on China's reefs and islands that they have illegally occupied. Some external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs; a tiny few maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China. It is thus a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests.
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Rust buckets chasing a hydroplane.. this been going on a year..
US Calls For Japan’s Help In Patrolling South China SeaGovernmental Decision Making Solution Matrix
http://haneke.net
Hey, who wants to play twister? That looks like fun.
All of that dredging. Has Dear Leader Obama's EPA sent their Amazon Battalion to those islands to put a stop to this molestation to Mother Earth?
No. Their leader, Bruce Jenner, is threatening to put on his pants again in a "reverse Klinger" if he is asked to do more than lip service to support Obama's Gay Humanitarian Aggressions. Socialism about collecting free money from others, not work.
Check out this documentary, you will find out what's going on with US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dWwkX3oUtI
most Chinese think that "see you" or "see you again" just means bye....
don't think it was literally a troll... and even if it was literal, probably just showing face... like, ok we know you coming back, hope next time it's you (the same guy) again so we can talk pizza again....
Or maybe their sailors who were sent on a shit show mission to trail our shit show mission were thinking... I dont want to kill these guys and I sure dont want to die; WTF are our commanders thinking.....
all of the above, really... I mean, there is almost zero anti-U.S. sentiment in China....
the notion of China actually fighting with the U.S. is absurb... the elite in China have moved billions to California and Vancouver... most young or affluent Chinese love American culture... it's just sabre rattling and a useful situationa boogeyman... the idea of Russia and U.S. fighting is already rather presposterous but even by those standards, that looks possible compared to how unrealistic China and the U.S. fighting is. every time i bring up a topic like this, chinese react like it's the stupidest thing they've heard... as if, the mere notion of an actual combat with the U.S. means you really need something better to do with your time, like 2nd job or 2nd mortgage. chinese have soooo effing little care at all that happens outside their borders, so much so that I think it's hard for a lot of westerner (myself included) to understand because we grow up obsessed with whether or not the 'world is right'
zerohedge econ data articles on china are great but anything on politics or culture is just.... it doesn't fit any sort of actual reality that i've ever seen... and i mean, not even fractionally... it's like what Russian American libertarian HOPES chinese are thinking and will do in some sort of sinorussian orgy of anti-imperialism, not what actually occurs there lol ;p
"I mean, there is almost zero anti-U.S. sentiment in China...."
I might agree if you if you get more specific about the demographic. age-group, region, education, job, connections, be them family, village or ancestral village
then if you aren't a young Chinese getting the best China can offer at the moment you might still be steeped in the old "resentment of foreign imperialists" culture going back 200 years
meanwhile, not caring what happens outside of the Middle Kingdom has a way, way older tradition
---------------
MICs, Navies, Armies and Airforces at play. See it this way: if you want the warrior to be there in case of war, you have to watch the warrior exercise, stroll around, engage in exercises with foreign warriors, exchange banter and mindgames with them
The Knights of Old did that, and smart merchants in collaboration with kings organized fairs where they gave them tournaments. So in the case of Asia, so fascinated with robots, the next step of this kind of exchanges would be to organize real fights among drones, be them in the sky, the seas or land
Turn the Spratley's Contested Area into a no-humans zone. Battle for it with drones. Let the Japanese join. Attach important trade deals to the possession of this or that reef
It's only taxpayer's money at work /s might some say, but since war is turning more and more commercial, including mercenaries, this does not have to be
The Drone War For The Spratleys might become one of the biggest entertainment sources ever. Sponsoring, Ads, Lobby- and Polit-money could flow directly into that
Watch the fearsome Toyota Godzilla VII engage the mighty Coca-Cola Thor XI and the Microsoft Smug II in fearsome 3D for the right to buy select palm-oil lots or smartphone import quotas
The Coca-Cola Thor XI team's leader has a problem: you already love her for watching how she had to battle her parents' team CNBC Trolleater IV for several heart-breaking episodes, and now she is wildly in love with the awesome-bodied karate-hardened second in command of the Toyota Godzilla VII team. watch her conference how she explains to reporters that shareholders don't need to worry. she is, first and before all, a true warrior. oh, and she will of course wear Chanel and nothing else during the battle at her station, as requested by her fans and as a ploy to distract the opponent's teams
Banksters need a war.
Rust bucket or not, all they have to do is maintain visual contact and call in coordinates for the antiship missile barrage when the time comes.Tick tock.
We will not tolerate this constant agression against coral.
I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the US and China are not going to war. We are huge trading "partners," meaning the oligarchs have trillions invested in China that would be nationalized in an actual conflict. Not. Going. To. Happen.
OMG this is the second time I have agreed with a bot.... It has a point, if we do go to war it will be after China dumps a shitload more t-bills, completes and fills their latest SOR, and buys all the gold left in the world, then batten down the hatches herE comes the d21's and yakhonts...
Word. What is going to happen and has been happening, is the slow frog boil effect.....taxation/inflation/rising costs on every fucking thing.
Perhaps those assets would be retroactively insured at US tax-payer expense by some of our best lobbyist.
Trading partners? That doesn't stop war when they're planned from the top.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_of_Germany#Ford-Werke_AG_later_Ford-W...
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm
When American GIs invaded Europe in June 1944, they did so in jeeps, trucks and tanks manufactured by the Big Three motor companies in one of the largest crash militarization programs ever undertaken. It came as an unpleasant surprise to discover that the enemy was also driving trucks manufactured by Ford and Opel -- a 100 percent GM-owned subsidiary -- and flying Opel-built warplanes. (Chrysler's role in the German rearmament effort was much less significant.)
And what was JB's grampa doing then? Glad you asked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush#Union_Banking_Corporation
''Purely commercial"
With this headline, ZH deliberately distorts what happened. The chinese weren't trolling - they were actually being professionally courteous to fellow sailors.
In other important news, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today. It was satisfactory.
hopopants - was the peanut butter smooth or crunchy? Me, I prefer smooth... I find it more than "satisfactory."
I saw that mine was topped off with red palm oil. WTF?? Why would there ever be anything BUT peanut oil in peanut butter? Must be that damn monkey union.
Trolling can be quite professional.
You should try it sometime ;-)
Obviously.
Such headlines are written purposefully , they are clickbait.
No, really, this is important financial news. The market should be up on this news. /s
yomutti with 19 upvotes. unheard of.
i prolly has to do with the Jewish sabbath, and being nice to the retarded.
It is just a variation on the stopped clock syndrome.
Dunno. I coulda sworn it had something to do with the new Israeli cabinet minister who said that John Kerry had the intelligence of a 12 year old.
Yomutti admires John Kerry's plastic surgery and is saving up for botox treatments.
+1
Now THIS Yomutti...THIS Yomutti I like!
I can only imagine either a) The kool aid has worn off or b) You're luring us all into a false sense of acceptance.
Welcome to ZH, Yomutti.
Nice.
"to show them ... that we're normal sailors, just like them, have families, just like them."
I wonder if they will remember that when they are told to pull the trigger
I think "push the button" is the appropriate phrase, not "pull the trigger".
They will act and they will die just like our guys....
No winners.
"to show them ... that we're normal sailors, just like them, have families, just like them"
The Chinese men join the Navy with their boyfriends also???
WWRD? Reagan would have built an island, put pershing missiles on it and pointed straight at Shanghai.
there's ol' Teddy... just a hop skip and jump away... told you they'd be there...
big stick CBG b on the sea floor in < 15 minutes, baloon goes up
China Syndrome...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nemYBeT4aQY
Donger need..no more yankie my wankie US navy
It was not in vain. I'm sure our Navy served as an excellent example of gender/gay tolerance and color coordination. And our carbon footprint was smaller, so we showed Mr China Smartypants who was more fabulous.
Be careful they haven't closed Gitmo just yet.
We used to drop water bottles filled with porn magz, crew patches, and all kinds of other crap out the free-fall chute of the P-3 when we'd fly close to soviet ships or subs back in the good old days of the USSR. They would hop in a dingy and row like hell to get the bottle. Pretty funny shit, and honestly, "they" and "we" were really just sailors. No hate. Had it gone to shooting....well that would have been another story. I'm sure it's the same with our current navy and the Chinese navy. The politicians are the problem. Always been that, always be that way.
WFWP CAC-11 Mutants........
Which proves the regular folks of all countries can "just get along". It's takes a village of politicians to screw it all up.
The "Polticians" are just the "front of Shop".
The "Village" you allude to (or "Back Office") is considerable more remote (and recognises no "National" boundaries).
An Air Drop of Porn to a bunch of men at sea... You are true hero's of the air...
Why doesn't ole Ash prove how serious he is about freedom of navigation by making the trip to within just a couple of miles from the Chinese islands on the next trip thru by a US warship.
All the Chinese have to do for now is give the US Navy rights to sail within the twelve mile limit.
Problem solved while China prepares to eventually be ready to tell the US Navy to stay out or be sunk.
Or Obama could suck dicks such is his favorite pass time.
Hey, what are you guys doing tonight?
Watching oil slicks.
Probably not.
The guys on the phone were genuinely happy to be going home, and looking forward to seeing their families again. Same as any grunt in any military, in any branch, in any theatre, at any time in all the uncounted ages of men.
Just glad to put it behind them for another day.
What it means is they don't have the ballz or the means to pull you over to a Chinese port and detain you so we are gonna act cool even though you are in our claimed 12 mile zone.THey blinked.
Yeah they did, a little. But the whole was largely choreographed from the get-go and "drama" wasn't much in the cards. Unless some Commander (on either side) did a Dr. Strangelove and went off script. Pretty sure the 2nd in command on both ships was keeping an eye on things. Not the day for theatrics or grand standing.
Everyone got home.
Good for a laugh back in port.
Few yeas ago with a Phillipines ship....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/us-philippines-china-reef-idUS...
1 year ago is as much history as 200 years ago, young lad.
It's today that counts
They blinked?
What are you talking about?
Commander Francis said
Which means 9 or 10 miles in military bullshit speak.
The guy who blinked was the guy who didn't sail a half mile off the artificially endowed island, drop anchor and wait for Lord Jim and the natives to paddle out to the Lassen in outriggers with baskets of fruit and bare breasted women or with spears and bows and arrows
Take your choice.
Ha ha, Parth, The Chinese blinked. You're funny.
"The Chinese blinked. You're funny."
The Chinese islands are still there and the US ship isn't.
The ship will be back. And you want to see what happens when a ship gets into us territory waters?
Indeed we will all want to see what happens when in the future a US ship gives the artificial reef a broadside.
Both normal folk and prognosticators like Parth.
Okay...
If they had detained the USN Destroyer then, in response, the USA would have detained the two Chinese Navy Warships in the Florida port at the time...I think St. Petersburg if my memory serves me right...
IT IS THEATER. Wars are run by the corporations for CORPORATE INTERESTS.
Russia and probably China can turn off our ships defense systems anytime they wish, Jamie Gorelick of the US DOPJ DOD outsourced our ship air defense systems to Russians and israelis
Heres an allegation http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html
and now poof a settlement http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/Schleifman+Law,+PLC+Announce...$12,890,000+False+Claims+Act+Settlement%3A+United+States+ex+re.+John+C.+Kingsley+v.+NetCracker+Technology+Corporation%3B+Civil+Action+No.+1%3A11/11045373.html
Chickenshit American sailors are the real NAVY trolls IMHO.
I was hoping to see a few more artificial reefs made of US NAVY warships.
Up yours, NATO.
Decades ago I was working an evening shift in ED at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK. Portsmouth was playing host to a US Flat Top (moored out in the Solent), and the USN decided to pay the locals a visit, with the intention of beating up a few (this was the time of the Northern Island troubles).
The ED routinely monitored Police and Hampshire Ambulance radio traffic in order to be prepared for incidents, and we noticed a significant increase in police activity in the Old Portsmouth area, spreading to the other popular “watering holes” of which Portsmouth had many (Navy base after all!). Things were brisk, and moved up a gear when the “visitors” decided to visit Paulsgrove (local Council Estate with a fearsome reputation).
We started seeing our “bulk” minor to moderate trauma cases starting to come in around 11 p.m.; mostly superficial injuries, mostly walking wounded, over 80% (yes, you DID read that right) American. The “locals” were determined to continue their turf war in our ED so we were obliged to supplement our normal Police presence (yes, QA ED IS that bad!) with the Naval Provost, who had a “more direct” approach to suppression.
After the major influx had been dealt with, we had a debriefing from the Guard Commander (Regulator Warrant Officer) whose opinion of the USN was pretty dismal. The comment “undisciplined, entitled and ineffective rabble” comes to mind, especially when I remember the extent of injuries inflicted on the “trained” US Naval personnel by UK “civilians” (OK, a lot of Paulsgrove inmates were ex. Services, many with an axe to grind).
Something to think about should your Navy decide to take on the Chinese, or Russians . . . .
Meh. The Chinese have a brown water navy. They are no match for anything the US has and they know this. The US Navy was probably just prodding around to see if they can roust a response from them. The Chinese were probably just following procedures in asking what the intentions were.
Ultimately, the Defense Secretary was making the rounds in an effort to prove to Washington’s regional allies that the US is “serious” about deterring Chinese “aggression” in the Spratlys.
Its the US that are the aggressors in trying to provoke them into a showdown or who know whatelse.
This is a non story.
I wouldn't want to be on a carrier within 500 miles of china if they start shooting those D-21 missiles.
If the Overhead radar gets a good look at it, maybe we can stop the first one, but if a serious salvo
comes in, we could see a carrier with a big hole in it...
The Chinese Diesel Electric subs are state of the art and their missile tech is good and what they lack in electronics they make up in quantity.
Now the chinese are smart, they won't do anything stupid...
If they want to keep us out of the waters near those islands they will announce a military test of
mines and deploy some decent mine fields. Even if the mines are 95% tethered empty oil barrels,
we won't go near them.
Multiple big holes and if they work like they claim and at a speed they claim there would be limited chance of intercept. Surface ships are just big dumb targets.
Amusing the hubris and dismissal. The US navy uses a concept called ‘co-operative engagement capability’ which assumes that all the ‘bits’ are going to talk to each other. I wonder what jamming would do to that strategy. Also the US dismisses the Chinese as they are not mimicking the US navy. If you bother to look at the Chinese strategy it is an asymmetrical one and based on a multi layered missile offense. All of their assets are missile platforms (land, sea and air). Nearly all of these missiles have a range greater than US defensive systems and are extremely fast – from Mach 2.0 (1,500mph) to Mach 3+ (2,300mph+). I would not be surprised if the Chinese fiddling with an aircraft carrier is a ploy.
What aircraft carrier???
What Aircraft Carrier(S)?
FIFY. They have acquired FOUR since 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_aircraft_carrier_programme
Since 1985, China has acquired four retired aircraft carriers for study, the Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev and Varyag. Reports state that two 60,000 ton Type 089 aircraft carriers based on Varyag are due to be finished by 2015.[3] Sukhoi Su-33s are the aircraft most likely to be flown from these carriers,[4] but China has also developed its own multirole fighter, the Shenyang J-15.[5]
Are you just too damned lazy to do an Internet Search?
Here are some PICTURES.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A86.JyOYUj5WnGgA1lMPxQt....
I like the one that depicts the jet departing as it demonstrates that it is OPERATIONAL
It's pathetic that US policy makers have so little understanding of the Asian mindset. Their bully-boy antics make them appear like children to most of the world.
China was never going to react to the provocation militarily - they'll just quietly increase the price of underpants by a dollar next year.
And the US retail giant will import underpants from Vietnam or India.
who will then raise the price by the same -seeing that they have a captive consumer
I hate to bust the writer's bubble, but this naval battle was decided in advance when Xi (Harry) met Obama (Sally) at the White House at the end of September.
They should have hailed the ship and gave them gifts for helping patrol their territory.