“Bowditch made contact with the PRC Navy ship via bridge-to-bridge radio to request the return of the UUV. The radio contact was acknowledged by the PRC Navy ship, but the request was ignored,” he said.
“The UUV is a sovereign immune vessel of the US. We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law,” Mr Cook demanded.
Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that China’s seizure of an US Navy unmanned scientific research submersible in international waters off the South China Sea is a remarkably brazen violation of international law.
“No matter its motivation, China needs to explain its actions and immediately return the undersea drone, untampered with, to the United States,” he said.
