Trump Takes To Twitter, Declares China Snatches Drone And ‘Rips It Out Of Water’ [Updated]
In new methods of international diplomacy, Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday night and accused China of stealing an unmanned U.S. Navy drone about 57 miles northwest of Subic Bay in the South China Sea two days ago. While China has defended its actions by saying that the U.S. has been “hyping up” its seizure of the drone, Donald Trump disagrees and let his feelings be known on Twitter.
“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act.”
Yes, there was a misspelling on Trump’s China tweet, and he deleted his original message at 4:30 a.m. and changed his message with the proper spelling of “unprecedented.” However, this wasn’t before social media noticed his error. The Huffington Post reports that Merriam-Webster’s Twitter account noticed Trump’s misspelling and was quick to let everyone know that “unpresidented” was a new word.
Good morning! The #WordOfTheDay is…not ‘unpresidented’. We don’t enter that word. That’s a new one. https://t.co/BJ45AtMNu4
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) December 17, 2016
Chris Murray, Democratic senator from Connecticut, also made note of the misspelling and left his own message on his Twitter account.
“This is madness. A 7:30 a.m. Saturday escalation of diplomatic crisis with China via Twitter, with misspelling.”
BBC has said that China took the U.S. vessel on Thursday while in international waters, but that China has not yet explained their reasons for taking the drone. The Pentagon has stated that the unmanned underwater vehicle had been used to conduct scientific research at the time it was captured and was gathering data on surface, midwater, and ocean floor measurements.
The USNS Bowditch, which is an American Oceanographic survey ship, was getting ready to retrieve their drone when the Chinese capture occurred. When they stopped to pick up the drone, a Chinese warship that had been cruising behind it threw a boat into the water as it moved beside the U.S. vessel and the Chinese took the drone then.
With the Pentagon telling China that this is not a move that should ever be repeated again, this is thought to be one of the biggest confrontations between China and the United States in decades, which is perhaps what set off Donald Trump with his Twitter message to China.
On Saturday, the Pentagon affirmed that China would be returning the drone, as spokesman Peter Cook stated.
“Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States.”
The Chinese defense ministry has not said exactly when they will be returning the drone, but said that it would be done in an “appropriate manner.” China was not pleased with Trump’s Twitter response to their theft of the drone and declared it to be “inappropriate and unhelpful.”
“China decided to return it to the US side in an appropriate manner, and China and the US have all along been in communication about it. During this process, the US side’s unilateral and open hyping up is inappropriate and is not beneficial to the smooth resolution of this issue. We express regret at this.”
On Friday, before Donald Trump’s China tweet, President Obama urged Trump not to let relations with China go into “full conflict mode,” as the Guardian reports.
“The idea of ‘one China’ is at the heart of their conception as a nation, and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what are the consequences. Because the Chinese will not treat that the way they will treat some other issues. “
Less than one hour ago, Donald Trump had a final message for China. He has decided that they should keep the drone now.
We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2016
After Trump’s latest message to China through Twitter, do you think this will be how he normally handles diplomatic stand-offs when he is in the White House?
[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
