No Hong Kong Thanksgiving for Kitty Hawk battle group sailors

[CougarKing]

Oh well...the PRC govt. can be a pain at times.  :

On a lighter note, I wonder if that "Fleet Arcade" that used to service RN and USN sailors is still there on the Hong Kong waterfront? Perhaps some Marcom veterans who did local liberty on the streets of Wan Chai or Causeway Bay might remember...hehehe.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,156859,00.html?wh=news

No Hong Kong Thanksgiving for Sailors
Associated Press  |  November 22, 2007
HONG KONG - A flotilla of U.S. warships carrying as many as 8,000 American sailors heading for a four-day Thanksgiving holiday visit to China's port of Hong Kong has been refused entry, the U.S. Navy said Nov. 22.

It was not immediately clear why the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and its support vessels were barred Nov. 21. Port officials said they had not been notified of the previously scheduled visit. But the incident added an unusual twist to China-U.S. relations, strained in recent months by disputes over trade and Iran's nuclear program.

In the past, China has banned all U.S. ships from the former British colony during times of tense relations. But current relations are not too bad, said David Zweig, a professor of China relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said.

"This is a surprise," Zweig said. "I haven't heard of ships being turned away like this before. I'm also disappointed and saddened for the families who have flown here expecting to see their relatives and are not now going to have their reunions."

The Kitty Hawk and five support vessels including a nuclear fast attack submarine were expected to dock in Hong Kong's deep water port Wednesday morning.

But the group was refused entry, Lt. Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost told The Associated Press by telephone from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii.

"There is no information as to why they were not allowed to pull into the port for the scheduled visit," she said.

The group of vessels were on their way to home ports, she said.

Hong Kong has long been a favored port of call for the U.S. military but Beijing's approval has been required since July 1, 1997, when Britain handed this former colony back to China.

Hong Kong's Marine Department, which handles logistic arrangements for ships docking in Hong Kong's deep-water port, said Thursday it had not received the documentation it normally would receive from other agencies clearing the arrival of foreign military ships.

The Hong Kong office of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would look into what happened.

China banned U.S. ships entering Hong Kong waters in 1999 when NATO planes bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo crisis and refused port calls for several months after a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in April, 2001.

Plans for many of the sailors to spend Thanksgiving with American families living in Hong Kong have had to be canceled, said Shirlee Algire, a volunteer who organizes the home meals. Some 47 families had offered to host 202 sailors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Algire told the AP.

The 46-year-old USS Kitty Hawk, which is based in the Japanese port city of Yokosuka, is the only U.S. aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad.

The diesel-powered ship will be decommissioned next year and replaced by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington.

Relations between China and the United States have improved in recent years, but the two powers are at odds over how to resolve Iran's failure to halt enrichment of uranium and the growing trade deficit in the U.S.

 

[kincanucks]

It was resolved.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/22/thursday/index.html

China reverses course on Kitty Hawk Thanksgiving visit

HONG KONG (CNN) -- The Chinese Foreign Ministry gave the OK for U.S. Navy ships to stay in Hong Kong over the Thanksgiving holiday not long after the ships were refused entry.

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the approval for the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier group was approved "due to humanitarian reasons" and the United States has been notified.

"In regard to the visits of American Navy ships and aircraft, China approves them on a case-by-case basis according to the principle of national sovereignty and the specifics in each case," the ministry said in a statement.

It is not clear why China changed its position on the issue and the Foreign Ministry wouldn't say. (Posted 4:53 a.m.)

 

[CougarKing]

I remember hearing on CNN that even though the PRC govt. did reverse its decision on allowing the Kitty Hawk battle group to enter Hong Kong, the ships were already heading for their home ports in US bases in Japan by the time the news of the change had reached US officials.

On a lighter note, I wonder if that "Fleet Arcade" that used to service RN and USN sailors is still there on the Hong Kong waterfront? Perhaps some Marcom veterans who did local liberty on the streets of Wan Chai or Causeway Bay might remember...hehehe.

As for my other little comment about the "Fleet Arcade"...I guess no one knows what I'm talking about.  :-\

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

As for my other little comment about the "Fleet Arcade"...I guess no one knows what I'm talking about.

Or chose not to comment on it...

 

[Greymatters]

I remember hearing on CNN that even though the PRC govt. did reverse its decision on allowing the Kitty Hawk battle group to enter Hong Kong, the ships were already heading for their home ports in US bases in Japan by the time the news of the change had reached US officials. 

What a coincidence...    :

 

[JBoyd]

China: US Navy Spat No Misunderstanding

http://www.mail.com/Article.aspx?articlepath=APNews/General World News/20071129/China_US_Navy_20071129.xml&cat=world&subcat=&pageid=1

China's last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday, adding that ties had been "disturbed and harmed" by Congress' honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Spokesman Liu Jianchao denounced an earlier report from Washington that said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told President Bush the incident was a misunderstanding.

But Liu offered no concrete explanation as to why China barred the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its escort vessels from entering Hong Kong harbor for a planned Thanksgiving visit.

"The report is not in line with the facts," Liu said at a regular news briefing.

He refused to elaborate, but his negative characterization of U.S.-China relations appeared to indicate that Beijing had canceled the visit deliberately in order to register its displeasure over U.S. actions, as it has occasionally with previous Hong Kong port calls.

Liu said "erroneous" actions on the part of the U.S. had "disturbed and harmed" relations.

He pointed to the U.S. Congress' awarding its highest civilian honor to the Dalai Lama last month. Though the Tibetan spiritual leader is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing demonizes the monk and claims he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet.

Also hurting relations were arms sales to Taiwan, an island which China regards as a renegade province, he said.

The Global Times, a tabloid published by the official party mouthpiece People's Daily, cited an unidentified People's Liberation Army senior colonel, as blaming Washington's decision to sell Taiwan an anti-missile defense system.

That "obviously sent the wrong signals" to Taiwan's leader, Chen Shui-bian, who China abhors for his campaign to assert the self-ruling island's independent identity, the paper quoted the colonel as saying.

"At a time when the U.S. side is seriously harming China's interests, there is no logic under heaven by which China should then be expected to open its heart and embrace it," the paper said in its Thursday edition.

Beijing also had refused port entry earlier that week to two U.S. Navy minesweepers seeking to refuel and shelter from an approaching storm.

China eventually decided to allow the Kitty Hawk strike group's visit to Hong Kong, but only after the ships had already left the area. They did not turn back, instead continuing on to their home port in Japan.

"We have all along, on the principle of sovereignty, approved (port calls) on a case by case basis. Out of humanitarian considerations, we agreed to allow the strike group to make a port call," Liu said.

The U.S. Defense Department lodged an official protest of the Chinese moves on Wednesday.

 

[CougarKing]

And here we go again...  : Yet another snub by the PRC govt!

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157306,00.html?wh=wh

Navy Reveals a Third Snub by Chinese
Associated Press  |  November 30, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Chinese rejection of U.S. ship visits into Hong Kong is broader than initially reported, the Pentagon said Friday, revealing for the first time that a third incident had occurred last week.

According to a defense official, a request for the USS Reuben James, a Navy frigate, to make a New Year's holiday stop in Hong Kong was formally denied by the Chinese last Thursday. The denial came the same day the Chinese turned away the USS Kitty Hawk and five ships accompanying it for a Thanksgiving port call.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the denial has not been publicly announced, said the Reuben James, based in Pearl Harbor, had made the port visit request in October.

According to the official, shortly after the Kitty Hawk was turned away, the Chinese reversed their decision and said the ship could enter the harbor, but by then the ship was too far out to sea. During that notification, the Chinese also told the Navy that the Reuben James visit was being denied. No reason was given for the refusal.

The official said the denial was both over the phone and in writing, and added that there are no other pending requests for US ship visits to the Hong Kong harbor.

Until now, the Navy has considered Hong Kong one of the sailors' favorite post of call, with about 50 ship visits per year.

In addition to the Kitty Hawk and the Reuben James, the Chinese also refused to let two Navy minesweepers enter Hong Kong harbor to escape an approaching storm and receive fuel - an incident Navy officials said it found far more disturbing since it violates an international rule of the sea to provide safe harbor for vessels in trouble.

The minesweepers, the Patriot and the Guardian, were instead refueled at sea and returned safely to their home port in Japan.

Prior to the latest three incidents, the most recent port visit denial came in 2004.

China has hinted that Congress' honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan triggered the problems, which have cast a new shadow over military relations between the two countries.

The Pentagon summoned a Chinese military attache to protest the decision, which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, called "perplexing." President Bush raised the issue with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi during their talks on North Korea, Iran and other issues.

 

[JBoyd]

Well they just don't know how to play well with others...

 

[Greymatters]

Not the best of media relations for a country planning to host a future Olympics...

 

[HardDriver]

Having all that mail from the Kitty Hawk come right back at us a few days later wasn't fun at all..

 

[CougarKing]

Looks like the PRC government is trying to raise some good will from the US government in the wake of the criticism it has received from its actions in Tibet, by granting advanced approval for the USS Nimitz carrier battle group to enter Hong Kong for a port call. Perhaps the bars and shops at Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Admiralty, Tsam Shui Poo and Fleet Arcade should prepare to clean up after the inevitable and hope the number of SPs ashore is enough to make all those Sailors and Marines on liberty behave. ;D


http://www.military.com/news/article/nimitz-approved-for-hong-kong-port-call.html

Nimitz Approved for Hong Kong Port Call
April 01, 2008
Associated Press
BEIJING - The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has been approved to make a port call to Hong Kong early this month, but there was no decision yet on a similar request from the USS Kitty Hawk, China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

A decision on the Kitty Hawk request would be made "according to the specific information and on a case-by-case basis," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, without elaborating.

"We have approved the Nimitz application to pay a port call to Hong Kong in early April," she said.

The Kitty Hawk battle group tried to make a long-scheduled visit to Hong Kong last Thanksgiving, but was told upon arrival that officials there had not received notification from Beijing to grant access.

The incident drove a wedge between U.S. and Chinese authorities, who had seen their relations warm in recent years. The top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific, Adm. Timothy Keating, said Beijing's behavior was unacceptable.

Beijing later said the U.S. military had not followed the correct procedure. Some analysts suggested China was retaliating against the U.S. for awarding the Dalai Lama with the U.S. Congress' highest civilian honor.

Although the West views the Dalai Lama as a figure of moral authority, Beijing demonizes the Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate as a troublemaker who seeks to split Tibet from the rest of China.

The USS Blue Ridge, which docked in Hong Kong in late January, was the first Navy ship to visit the former British colony after the Kitty Hawk incident.

Known for its colorful nightlife, Hong Kong is a favored destination among U.S. sailors. The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.