(South China Morning Post) China said it would return a US navy drone seized in international waters in the South China Sea “in an appropriate manner” as both countries accused the other of ratcheting up tensions in the region.
In a statement issued on Saturday night, the Chinese defence ministry said it had taken the drone for verification and accused the United States of “making a fuss” over the incident.
According to the Pentagon, the US lodged a formal diplomatic protest and demanded the return of the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), which it said was “unlawfully” taken by a Chinese warship on Thursday near Subic Bay off the Philippines.
Trump waded into the debate on Saturday night, Beijing time, with an initially misspelled tweet saying China had stolen the drone in international waters in an “unpresidented” act, before he corrected his wording almost an hour later.
