A Chinese submarine struck an underwater sonar array being towed by the U.S. Navy destroyer John S. McCain (DDG 56), according to news reports.
The incident happened near the Philippines, near Subic Bay.
In earlier incidents, Chinese commercial vessels harassed and almost struck U.S. Navy vessels which China falsely claimed were in its territorial waters. However, that was not the case here.
Those incidents followed a 2001 outrage in which a Chinese aircraft recklessly smashed into a U.S. Navy intelligence plane flying peacefully in international airspace, almost causing it to crash into the sea. When the crippled plane and its crew of 24 U.S. Navy men and women in uniform made an emergency landing, the Chinese captured them and held them for more than a week.
China also is expanding its armed forces enormously, such that it can deny access even to the U.S. Navy. (Please see separate story in this issue.)