A fraudulent research vessel in China was detected on Friday off the coast of Alaska, said the American Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard reported on Saturday that the Xue Long 2, a icebreaker, had been detected about 290 north north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, the United States.
The Xue Long 2 is operated by the Polar Research Institute Chinese.
Photo of the American Coast Guard Gracked Air Station Kodiak
The ship was in the extended continental plateau of the United States, or DHW, which is a part of the continental plateau which goes beyond 200 nautical miles off the coast, according to the State Department. The ship was determined as 130 naval miles inside the DHW.
“The United States has exclusive rights to preserve and manage the living and non-alive resources of its ECs,” the Coast Guard said in its press release.
A C-130J Hercules, a long-range surveillance plane, replied to the ship. The Coast Guard also published a photo of the ship.
“The American Coast Guard, alongside partners and other agencies, monitors and responds with vigoring to the activity of foreign government ships in and close to American waters to guarantee territorial integrity and defend sovereign interests against the malignant activity of the state,” said the counter-Adm. Bob Little, commander of the American Coast Guard district Arctic, in a press release.
CBS News contacted the Coast Guard to obtain clarifications on how it was facing the ship.
Earlier this week, Canada CBC news reported that the Canadian army monitored the movements of the Xue Long 2 in the Arctic.
In a press release provided to the CBC on Tuesday, Major Alexander Naraine, a spokesperson for the joint army operations center said that the Xue Long 2 was “not currently in Canadian territorial waters”.
Canada used an Aurora Lockheed CP-140 plane based in Alaska to “actively” monitor the Chinese ship, said Naraine.
It comes after four Russian military planes were spotted and followed Flying near the Alaska coast on Tuesday by the North American aerospace defense command.
The plane stolen in a section of international airspace called the Alaska air defense identification area. Although Alaska Adiz is considered to be part of international airspace, it is defined as an area where sovereign American airspace ends but “which requires the ready identification of all planes in the interest of national security”, according to Norad.
In January, American and Canadian fighter planes were scrambled After Russian war planes were also spotted in the Arctic, Norad said. Russian war planes remained in international airspace.
And in July 2024, The United States has intercepted Several Chinese or Russian bombers near the Alaska coast. At the time, an American defense official said that he was the first time that the Russian and Chinese planes had entered the Alaska Adiz jointly, and the first time Chinese H-6 has empipethe of Alaska.
contributed to this report.