China says will return drone, accuses US of 'making a fuss'

China today slammed the US for "making a fuss" over the seizure of its underwater drone in the disputed South China Sea, saying it will return the device in an "appropriate manner" even as it called its action as "professional and responsible".

The Chinese Defence Ministry said it had taken the drone for verification and accused the US of "making a fuss" over the incident after US President-elect Donald Trump accused China of "stealing" the US Navy research drone.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun dismissed the US allegations, insisting China had been "professional and responsible" to take the drone. "We had to examine and verify the device in a bid to avoid any harm it might cause to the safety of navigation and personnel," he said in a late night statement.

Yang said the drone would be returned "in an appropriate manner", hinting that Beijing may carry out its own examination of it but did not specify any time line. He said China was strongly opposed to such reconnaissance activities and it was highly inappropriate for the US to make a fuss over the incident.

His statement came after Trump joined the war of words with a tweet saying that "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (unprecedented) act".

Though the US and China have been experiencing tensions over the strategic South China Sea (SCS) for the past few years, this is the first time Beijing picked up a US drone, taking it to a different level.

Despite claiming almost all of SCS, China said there was never a threat to the freedom of the navigation in the most important trade route through which trillions of dollars of goods pass.

Earlier confirming the seizure of an unmanned underwater drone by its navy, China said both sides are "appropriately handling" the issue while Chinese military official expressed confidence it will be "resolved successfully".

"According to (our) understanding, the US and Chinese sides are working on appropriately to handle this matter through channels between the two militaries," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in its first reaction on the incident while replying to queries from the media outlets here.

The Chinese military earlier said that it has received a request from US to return its underwater drone seized by the PLA Navy warship in the disputed South China Sea and said that the issue will be "resolved successfully".

A Chinese military source confirmed that they received a "claim request" from the US for an underwater drone after a Chinese warship seized it during a security check in the SCS, state-run Global Times reported.

Reports from Washington said the request was made by the US after its unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) was picked up by a Chinese naval ship about 80 kms northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines on December 15 just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve it.

"We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. US officials said the UUV is an unclassified "ocean glider" system used around world to gather data on salinity, water temperature and sound speed.

The incident came in the backdrop of increasing strains between the two countries over Trump's criticism of China building of military installation in the SCS and his questioning of One China policy after holding an unprecedented phone talk with Taiwanese President, Tsai Ing-wen which drew strong diplomatic protests from Beijing.

China has become more assertive over the SCS after an international tribunal this year struck down its claim over all most all of the area. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims over the South China Sea.

Also amid increasing tensions China's first aircraft carrier conducted its maiden live fire drills on a massive scale along with a host of naval ships, aircraft and submarines, four years after it was commissioned.

China has also confirmed it is building military facilities in some of the reclaimed islands saying that the deployment of necessary defensive facilities on some islands in the South China Sea is legitimate and normal.

Reacting to the reports showing satellite images of the military facilities in the islands revealed by US think tank, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Thursday that the SCS islands are China's inherent territory and China is building necessary defensive facilities on its own territory which is completely normal and has nothing to do with militarisation.

Commenting on the UUV seizure by China, Chinese analysts said it reflects the new competition between Beijing and Washington in the area and an aggressive signal by China to show that is ready to act.

"It's not the first time that the US deployed a drone in the South China Sea area, but it's the first time the Chinese military seized it. There must be a reason for it. It could have threatened the interests of China’s islands, or China's ships and submarines. It must have been damage to Chinese interests that caused the seizure," Zhao Xiaozhuo, the director and a senior colonel at the Centre on China-America Defence Relations at the Academy of Military Science, a PLA think-tank said told Hong Kong based South China Morning Post.

"China has been very restrained about the military intervention from the US. They have been on the edges of Chinese territories all the time. This time the Chinese military took action. It must be because of some actions taken by the US side," he said.

Zhao said both sides would probably resolve the issue through negotiation. "China wants to send out a signal that if you spy on us underwater and threaten our national security, we have measures to deal with it," said Wu Shicun, president of the Chinese government-affiliated National Institute for South China Sea Studies.