Chinese Vessel Seen Off the Coast of Alaska

Chinese Spy Vessel Seen Off the Coast of Alaska


      On July 14, 2017 a Chinese spy vessel was spotted 100 miles off the coast of Alaska and although the US doesn't want to make speculations about the appearance of the ship  they do have some hypotheses to why the Chinese might have been there. For example China's vessels have been sailing around the coast of Guam and have been shadowing a joint US-Australian military exercises, an unknown US official said although this was unusual behavior the vessel might be on a sailing exercise that continued into the Alaskan coast. Another possible scenario is that at the time that the Chinese communication vessel was seen the THAAD or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system was being tested in Alaska. That is a possible reason for the vessel to be in Alaska to see if the test was successful. But US officials do not want to openly speculate without proof of intent. The United States strongly believes and have told American citizens and news companies that the Chinese ship poses no threats to the USA. And although the true reason of their presence in Alaska is unknown there is nothing that they could have obtained that can affect the United States. In my opinion I believe that China's vessel was there to see if the THAAD would be successful. This is because the Chinese government has strongly protested against the THAAD system because it could be used to destroyed Chinese missiles. However the reason of the THAAD is for the US and South Korea to be able to intercept North Korean missiles. The fact that China was already against the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system shows that they would have a motive to see if the THAAD was successful. Even though this is what I believe there is no way of knowing if that was China's true plan while in Alaska.



Links of Information:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/14/china-spy-ship-reportedly-off-coast-of-alaska-watching-thaad-tests.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/07/13/politics/chinese-spy-ship-coast-alaska/index.html

https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/14/chinese-spy-ship-near-alaska-for-thaad-missile-test.amp.html

Picture:
http://prepperssurvivalhomestead.com/tag/breaking-news/

Discussion Questions:
1.What do you believe was the reason for China’s communication vessel to be on the coast of Alaska? And why?
2. Do you think they would have obtained any valuable information about the USA?
3. Would you consider the communication ship dangerous or a threat? If so why?