New Video Of A 2018 Encounter Between A Chinese And US Warship Shows How Close They Came To Colliding With Each Other

SCMP: Exclusive: US Navy footage of warships’ near collision in South China Sea

* New footage of a 2018 encounter between a Chinese and US warship has been released to the Post following a freedom of information request
* Experts say it appears to show the Chinese PLA crew preparing for a collision

A newly-released US Navy video of the tense encounter between a Chinese and US warship in the South China Sea in late 2018 offers an indication of how seriously the Chinese side were prepared for a collision with the US vessel in the contested waterway.

In the footage of the incident, which at the time caused heated exchanges between Washington and Beijing, Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy crew can be seen preparing buoys designed to absorb impact and protect the hull of their ship in the event of a collision between a Chinese Luyang destroyer and the USS Decatur.

Keith Patton, deputy chairman of the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the US Naval War College, said the video suggested the Chinese crew believed a crash was imminent.

“It could be upping the game of chicken with the PLAN warship signalling it was serious by making those preparations,” Patton said.

Hu Bo, director of the Centre for Maritime Strategy Studies at Peking University, described the preparation of the buoys as a “natural response” ahead of a likely accident.

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WNU editor: The Chinese are signalling to the US on how far they will go assert their South China Sea territorial claims.