China Likely to Remove Data From US Drone Before Returning It

Beijing complained that Washington “hyped up” the incident where the Chinese Navy seized an underwater US drone

China launched the missile from the disputed Woody Island in the South China Sea. (Photo Courtesy: Google Maps)

China will return an underwater US drone seized by a naval vessel this week in the South China Sea, both countries said on Saturday, but Beijing complained that Washington had been “hyping up” the incident.

China also warned US to stop the spying activities under the guise of freedom of navigation, maintaining that they have no right to threaten the Chinese national security, Times of India reported.

Reports from the Chinese experts suggest that the Army would empty the information collected by the US drone before returning it to the United States.

The Chinese Navy had seized the drone on Thursday and Washington had demanded that should be returned. Chinese defense ministry said that the drone would be returned “in and appropriate manner”, without further clarification to what the statement meant.

This is not the first time that we seized a US underwater drone in the South China Sea, but the one we seized on Thursday is new and more advanced than before and might carry valuable information just gathered in the South China Sea.

Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert

Li Jie also points out that the United states was aware that the spying activities which were being carried out in the Chinese waters were inappropriate, therefore used media to hype up the situation. On the other hand, the US government had remained silent in the earlier instances of similar seizures.

Also Read: Chinese Navy Seizes US Underwater Drone in South China Sea

Global Times also quoted Li Jie questioning how would Washington react if “China decided to set sail his naval vessels in sea waters near the US shores?”

The paper also wrote an editorial asking “does the US want the two countries to engage in offshore intelligence gathering one-upmanship?”

Donald Trump had termed the seizure by the Chinese as an "unprecedented act."

Although China said it would return the drone to the United States, Trump later tweeted that the US should let China keep it.

Also Read: Satellite Images Show China Put up Weapons on Artificial Islands

(With inputs from Reuters and Times of India)