Chinese research vessel spotted in US Arctic zone: Reports

ANKARA

A Chinese-flagged research icebreaker was detected on Friday operating inside the US Extended Continental Shelf in the Arctic Ocean, prompting a response from the US Coast Guard, according to media reports.

The vessel, Xue Long 2, run by China’s Polar Research Institute, was spotted roughly 290 nautical miles north of Utqiagvik, Alaska, and around 130 nautical miles inside the US Extended Continental Shelf (ECS), CBS News reported on Saturday.

The ECS lies beyond 200 nautical miles from the US coastline and grants the US sovereign rights to conserve and manage its living and non-living resources under international maritime law.

“The US has exclusive rights to conserve and manage the living and non-living resources of its ECS,” the Coast Guard said in an official press release on Saturday.

A C-130J Hercules aircraft was deployed to monitor the vessel, and a photo of the Xue Long 2 was released. Rear Adm. Bob Little, the commander of the US Coast Guard Arctic District, said the agency remains alert to foreign vessel activity.

“The US Coast Guard, alongside partners and other agencies, vigilantly monitors and responds to foreign government vessel activity in and near US waters to secure territorial integrity and defend sovereign interests against malign state activity,” he said.

Canada’s military had also tracked the vessel earlier in the week, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Canada’s Joint Operations Centre said the ship was not in Canadian territorial waters, but a CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft based in Alaska was monitoring its movements.

The detection comes days after the US tracked four Russian military aircraft inside the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone -- an international airspace requiring aircraft to identify themselves for security purposes.