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Navy Admiral: U.S. Warships Forcibly Entering Our Carrier Zone Is Similar to Provocation

The report below was originally published in Jinghua Times and then republished in People’s Daily

On December 5, a U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class of guided missile cruiser nearly collided with a Chinese warship while carrying out surveillance of China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. According to the Global Times, the U.S. military had entered the inner defense zone of the cruiser aircraft carrier battle groups. 
This is another incident in the escalating confrontation between an emerging big maritime country, China, and the United States, the maritime power that has been dominant in the Asia-Pacific since World War II. 
Rear Adm. Yin Zhuo, director of the Chinese PLA Navy Advisory Committee for Information Technology, said that reconnaissance operations do not violate international law; however, because the Liaoning ship had already designated the area of activity and briefed the world before the pilot training exercises, under normal circumstances, other country’s ships would not freely enter the relevant waters for safety reasons. He noted that the U.S. military "test Gibbons" cruiser was sailing through our carrier battle groups, ignoring the advice of our guard vessels. This is a very unfriendly close reconnaissance operation, similar to provocation. 

Source: People’s Daily, December 17, 2013
 http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/1217/c1011-23858252.html 
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2013-12/17/content_48996.htm