On Oct. 7, the US Navy announced that, five days earlier, the Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut collided with an unknown object in the South China Sea. In a terse statement, the Navy reported that 11 members of the crew were injured but that the subs nuclear plant was not damaged. Beyond confirming, a few days later, that the Connecticut put into port at the US Navy base in Guam for damage assessment and an investigation, the Navy has said nothing more about the incident.
Beijing, however, has been demanding information ever since, about the collision and what the Connecticut was doing in the South China Sea in the first place. “For quite a long time, the US has stirred up troubles in the South China Sea under the guise of ‘freedom of navigation,’ posing serious threats and major risks to the peace and stability in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a press briefing this morning. “It’s justified for China and other littoral states of the South China Sea to ask the US to answer the following questions: What was USS Connecticut up to so secretively in the South China Sea this time? What did it collide with? Why did that collision happen? Was there a nuclear leak that created nuclear contamination in the marine environment? As the party directly involved, the onus is on the US to give a detailed explanation in response to the concerns and doubts of regional countries and the international community.”
US muscle flexing in the South China Sea has “undermined the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and threatened China and other countries’ sovereignty and security, making the US the biggest force for militarization of the South China Sea,” Zhao concluded. “The US should change its course and stop such erroneous acts, and play a positive role in upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
