China says it will give back an American drone it seized Thursday in international waters in the South China Sea. Military officials of the United States and China were holding talks on the return of the unmanned vehicle, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Monday. China's defense ministry said a Chinese naval ship observed what the ministry called “unidentified equipment” off the coast of the Philippines. China says naval officials decided to take the object to make sure other ships could pass safely through the area. Chinese officials later discovered it was an unmanned underwater vehicle belonging to the United States. U.S. officials have said the drone was operating in the area to collect scientific information related to water conditions and temperature. U.S. officials have protested the incident. They say the seizure was unlawful. They have demanded the drone's immediate return. U.S. legal experts said the seizure happened inside an economic area belonging to the Philippines, possibly violating international law. Arizona Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN Sunday the taking of the drone was a "gross violation of international law.” On Saturday, Chinese defense officials said the U.S. equipment would be returned, in their words, “in an appropriate manner.” U.S. defense officials confirmed they were in contact with China about the issue. The United States and other countries have raised concerns about China's growing military presence in the South China Sea. Last week, an American-based research group released satellite images appearing to show that China had added weapons to man-made islands it built in the South China Sea. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported the weapons included anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. China created the man-made land formation in the Spratly Islands in recent years by building up sand on top of coral reefs. The Spratly Islands are made up of many small islands, coral reefs and other land formations in the South China Sea. China, Taiwan and Vietnam each have claimed much of the area and its natural resources. Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the waterway.
Title: China Says It Will Return US Drone Taken from South China Sea
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/china_drone.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='China Says It Will Return US Drone Taken from South China Sea' data-article-id='2091'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='10208'>China says it will give back an American drone it seized Thursday in international waters in the South China Sea.</span> <span data-start-time='10208' data-end-time='23000'>Military officials of the United States and China were holding talks on the return of the unmanned vehicle, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Monday.</span> <span data-start-time='23000' data-end-time='36208'>China's defense ministry said a Chinese naval ship observed what the ministry called “unidentified equipment” off the coast of the Philippines.</span> <span data-start-time='36208' data-end-time='47729'>China says naval officials decided to take the object to make sure other ships could pass safely through the area.</span> <span data-start-time='47729' data-end-time='57271'>Chinese officials later discovered it was an unmanned underwater vehicle belonging to the United States.</span> <span data-start-time='57271' data-end-time='69875'>U.S. officials have said the drone was operating in the area to collect scientific information related to water conditions and temperature.</span> <span data-start-time='69875' data-end-time='74500'>U.S. officials have protested the incident.</span> <span data-start-time='74500' data-end-time='78479'>They say the seizure was unlawful.</span> <span data-start-time='78479' data-end-time='82958'>They have demanded the drone's immediate return.</span> <span data-start-time='82958' data-end-time='95604'>U.S. legal experts said the seizure happened inside an economic area belonging to the Philippines, possibly violating international law.</span> <span data-start-time='95604' data-end-time='110271'>Arizona Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN Sunday the taking of the drone was a "gross violation of international law.”</span> <span data-start-time='110271' data-end-time='121063'>On Saturday, Chinese defense officials said the U.S. equipment would be returned, in their words, “in an appropriate manner.”</span> <span data-start-time='121063' data-end-time='128688'>U.S. defense officials confirmed they were in contact with China about the issue.</span> <span data-start-time='128688' data-end-time='139021'>The United States and other countries have raised concerns about China's growing military presence in the South China Sea.</span> <span data-start-time='139021' data-end-time='153479'>Last week, an American-based research group released satellite images appearing to show that China had added weapons to man-made islands it built in the South China Sea.</span> <span data-start-time='153479' data-end-time='164083'>The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported the weapons included anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.</span> <span data-start-time='164083' data-end-time='175396'>China created the man-made land formation in the Spratly Islands in recent years by building up sand on top of coral reefs.</span> <span data-start-time='175396' data-end-time='185875'>The Spratly Islands are made up of many small islands, coral reefs and other land formations in the South China Sea.</span> <span data-start-time='185875' data-end-time='194792'>China, Taiwan and Vietnam each have claimed much of the area and its natural resources. </span> <span data-start-time='194792' data-end-time='201625'>Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the waterway.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/china_drone.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=7783 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/what_does_drone_mean.m4a'>What does drone mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='a small flying machine flown remotely'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/man_made_weapons.m4a'><span>man made weapons</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/a_small_flying_machine_flown_remotely.m4a'><span>a small flying machine flown remotely</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/a_naval_ship.m4a'><span>a naval ship</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/a_commercial_airplane.m4a'><span>a commercial airplane</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=7784 data-hint-location='74500' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/why_have_us_officials_protested_this_incident.m4a'>Why have US officials protested this incident?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='they say the seizure was unlawful'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/growing_military_presence.m4a'><span>growing military presence</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/international_law_was_followed.m4a'><span>international law was followed</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/they_say_the_seizure_was_unlawful.m4a'><span>they say the seizure was unlawful</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/china_owns_the_drone.m4a'><span>China owns the drone</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=7785 data-hint-location='57271' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/officials_have_said_the_drone_was_operating_in_the_area_to_collect__blank__.m4a'>Officials have said the drone was operating in the area to collect <span class='blank'>scientific information</span>. </div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='scientific information'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/satellite_images.m4a'><span>satellite images</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/military_information.m4a'><span>military information</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/secret_intelligence.m4a'><span>secret intelligence</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1575/scientific_information.m4a'><span>scientific information</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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