China refused request from U.S. ships to enter Hong Kong harbor to avoid a storm

[kurth]

US Navy rebukes China over ship ban
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Financial Times

China's decision to deny a US aircraft carrier access to Hong Kong harbour over the Thanksgiving holiday was the second such incident in recent weeks, senior US naval officers said on Tuesday. Admiral Timothy Keating, head of US Pacific Command, and Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, on Tuesday said China had recently refused a request from two minesweeping ships - the USS Guardian and USS Patriot - to enter Hong Kong harbour to avoid a storm.

China last week refused to allow the USS Kitty Hawk, the oldest aircraft carrier, and its accompanying ships and submarines to dock in Hong Kong. The unexpected denial, which came weeks after the routine request had been approved, angered US officials because family members of the US sailors had flown to the territory for the holiday. China later reversed the decision but the move came too late as the Kitty Hawk was already returning to its home port in Japan.

"This is perplexing. It's not helpful," Adm Keating said in a video-conference from his headquarters in Hawaii. "It is not, in our view, ­conduct that is indicative of a country who understands its obligations as a responsible nation."

Adm Keating said he was more concerned about the decision to deny the minesweepers, which he said had been sailing in international waters, access to the port during a storm. "For the Chinese to have denied those two ships in particular, small though they may be, that is a different kettle of fish for us, and is in ways more disturbing, more perplexing than the denial for the Kitty Hawk's port visit request," he said. Separately, Adm Roughead said the Chinese had not obeyed the first tenet of the sea, which was that you first provided assistance to vessels in potential trouble before sorting out other issues.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21998616/

[ret5hd]

1. Another example of us needing them more than they need us. (nt)

[Deja Q]

2. Who told China it had to be responsible?

[bemildred]

3. "I keep pulling the lever, but nothing happens?" nt

[seemunkee]

4. Retaliation for giving a medal to the Dalai Lama

[sam sarrha]

5. they really defend their genicide of 1,250,000 tibetans,,

[BuyingThyme]

6. Why would they deny access to a preemptive military force?

[fed-up]

7. family members of the US sailors had flown to the territory for the holiday

something doesn't add up here, were they planning to go into port all along and just used the storm as an excuse??

were they planning on "planting" something?

[vademocrat]

8. There were two separate incidents -

The family members flew to meet the crew of the Kitty Hawk for a scheduled for a thanksgiving port of call that had previously been approved but was denied at the last minute.

Earlier in November, two minesweepers were denied entry to avoid a storm.