In a Sunday editorial, the Chinese Communist paper Global Times blamed the collision of the USS John S. McCain with a tanker near Singapore last week on the arrogant “hegemony mentality” of the United States, which considers “all seas, channels, and ports their backyard through which they can come and go freely.”
“Even when accidents happen, the US does not take it seriously. With such a mentality, no wonder accidents happen so easily,” the Global Times lectures, before going on to boast of the “great progress” made by the Chinese Navy.
“China doesn’t have the ‘hegemony mentality’ like the US does, and will maintain ‘strong but not hegemonic’ when it grows more powerful. Reasonable systems, strict management, and effective measures will be adopted by our naval vessels,” the editorial by “Beijing-based naval expert” Li Jie insists.
This carping about “hegemony mentality” is no doubt linked to China’s incessant complaints about American freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, nearly all of which China claims, no matter what international arbitration courts might say to the contrary. One such patrol was conducted just a few weeks ago by none other than the USS John S. McCain. China routinely denounces the patrols as “illegal provocations.”
The Chinese are also touchy about theories that some form of cyber-warfare might have caused the McCain collision, denouncing such charges as “irresponsible” in the Global Times editorial.
The real cause, in China’s view, is that “American naval vessels are under lax management and lack vigilance.” The young night duty crews lack proper supervision from experienced officers and underestimate the challenges of navigating through crowded sea lanes in rough seas, according to the editorial.
“The vessels of the world’s most modern navy, with high-tech equipment and sophisticated technology on board, should pass through any waterway smoothly. But the reality was not so. That fully demonstrates that even the most advanced equipment only works as well as the person operating it,” writes Li Jie.
The U.S. Navy announced on Monday that the remains of the last of 10 sailors missing after the collision have been recovered.
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