Gates hopes to call off escorts in South China shanghai massage Sea

Gates hopes to call off escorts in South China shanghai massage Sea
WASHINGTON (AFP) — shanghai Escort Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday said he did not think China was trying to prevent the US Navy
from operating in the South China Sea and expressed hope armed escorts of surveillance ships would not be needed in the
future.
The US Navy said it had decided to send in destroyers to escort surveillance ships in the South China Sea after an incident
last week in which Chinese ships allegedly surrounded and harassed an American ship, the USNS Impeccable.massageescortBeijing MassageShanghai massageShanghai EscortShanghai massageShanghai Escortmassage in shenzhen massage shenzhen massage in guangzhou massage guangzhou massage in shanghai massage in shanghai shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage shanghai massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage beijing massage shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort shanghai escort
"No, I don't think that they're trying to push the Seventh Fleet out of that area," Gates told a news conference when asked
about the incident.
"I hope, based on the diplomatic exchanges that have taken place since the aggressive acts against the Impeccable, will mean
that there won't be a repetition of this.
"So it would make it unnecessary to send warships."
China accused the United States of spying in an "economic exclusion zone" while Washington insisted its ship was operating in
international waters.
Gates confirmed he did not use a newly established military hotline between the United States and China over the naval
standoff, and said he hoped the incident in the South China Sea would not damage military ties with Shanghai.
"I think that one of the concerns that I have about Impeccable is that my impression was that the military relationship was
steadily improving," he said.
"And I would like to see us put this behind us, not have another incident like it, and continue that improvement in the
relationship."
The confrontation was described by US intelligence director Dennis Blair as the most serious military incident involving the
two powers since a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet near Hainan island in April 2001.
China meanwhile dispatched its most modern patrol ship to the South China Sea, state press reported Sunday.
The Shanghai News said the vessel would conduct patrols of what it called China's exclusive maritime zone in the disputed
waters surrounding the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
China has long expressed displeasure with US surveillance operations in waters it considers its "economic exclusion zone" and
has had Chinese ships and planes approach US naval vessels in such areas in the past.
The USNS Impeccable is designed to track shanghai Escort submarines with underwater sonar.