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Associated Press

US president-elect Donald Trump says the US should let China keep the US Navy’s unmanned underwater glider that it seized in the South China Sea.
Trump tweeted Sunday morning Hong Kong time: “We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!”
His tweet came after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with China for the return of the underwater glider.
It was not immediately known what effect, if any, the president-elect’s tweet would have on the agreement with Beijing.
The tweet was the second time the president-elect injected himself into the controversy through Twitter.
Misspelling “unprecedented”, he tweeted earlier Saturday: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act.” He later reissued the tweet, correcting the spelling

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

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According to the Pentagon, the drone was seized Thursday while collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety.
China says its navy seized a US Navy unmanned underwater glider to ensure the “safe navigation of passing ships”.
Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun issued a statement late Saturday saying that a Chinese navy lifeboat discovered an unknown device in the South China Sea on Thursday. It said, “In order to prevent this device from posing a danger to the safe navigation of passing ships and personnel, the Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device.”

The statement said that after verifying that the device was an American unmanned submerged device, “China decided to transfer it to the US through appropriate means.”
It also accused the US of deploying “ships in China’s presence to conduct renaissance and military surveying. China is resolutely opposed to this and requests the U.S. stop such activities.”
According to the Pentagon, the drone was seized while collecting unclassified scientific data in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety, about 92 kilometres northwest of Subic Bay near the Philippines.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

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Donald Trump

‘Let them keep it!’ Trump tweets new twist in China drone drama

US president-elect Donald Trump. On Saturday, Trump took to Twitter to blast China for, as he described it, ripping the research drone out of the water. Photo: AP

This undated Navy file photo shows crew members aboard the VOS Raasay recover US and British Royal Navy ocean gliders taking part in the Unmanned Warrior exercise off the northwest coast of Scotland, on October 8, 2016. A similar unmanned underwater vehicle was seized by the Chinese Navy in international waters off the coast of the Philippines on December 15, 2016. The underwater probe was taken around 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) northwest off Subic Bay in the Philippines on December 15 in a non-violent incident, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said. The event unfolded as the civilian-crewed USNS Bowditch was retrieving a pair of "naval gliders" that routinely collect information on water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity. / AFP PHOTO / US NAVY / Cmdr Santiago Carrizosa / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / U.S. Navy Photo/ Cmdr. Santiago Carrizosa " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

'Unpresidented' Trump tweet on China sets off deluge of mockery

Donald Trump deleted this tweet after about an hour, replacing it with one correctly using the word ‘unprecedented’. Photo: Twitter

President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks to cheering supporters in front of a Christmas-themed backdrop at a rally in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 16, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)