A US Coast Guard ship on routine patrol in the Bering Sea came across a guided missile cruiser from China, officials said on Monday.
However, the cruiser was not alone as it sailed about 138km north of Alaska’s Kiska Island on Monday last week, the officials said.
Two other Chinese naval ships and four Russian naval vessels, including a destroyer, were spotted in single formation, the patrol boat, known as a cutter called Kimball, discovered, the officials said.
Photo: AP
The Honolulu-based Kimball, a 127m vessel, observed as the ships broke formation and dispersed, they said.
A C-130 Hercules provided air support for the Kimball from the US Coast Guard station in Kodiak, they said.
“While the formation has operated in accordance with international rules and norms, we will meet presence with presence to ensure there are no disruptions to US interests in the maritime environment around Alaska,” said US Rear Admiral Nathan Moore, commander of the Seventeenth Coast Guard District.
The coast guard said that Operation Frontier Sentinel guidelines call for meeting “presence with presence” when strategic competitors operate in and around US waters.
The Kimball would continue to monitor the area, it said.
The Chinese and Russian formation came a month after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned about China’s interest in the arctic and Russia’s military buildup there.
Stoltenberg said that Russia has set up a new Arctic Command and has opened hundreds of new and former Soviet-era arctic military sites, including deep-water ports and airfields.
China has declared itself a “near arctic” state and plans to build the world’s largest icebreaker, he said.
“Beijing and Moscow have also pledged to intensify practical cooperation in the arctic. This forms part of a deepening strategic partnership that challenges our values and interests,” Stoltenberg said in a visit to Canada’s north.
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