Wednesday’s New York Times had an interesting article about tension in the South China Sea.  The US Navy is doing regular patrols in the area to “keep the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, open to all maritime traffic.”  Increasing tensions over who controls the South China Sea is “expected to dominate President Obama’s meeting in Washington this week with the Chinese President…”

However, what was most fascinating in the article was a transcript of communications between the U.S.S. Chancellorsville, on patrol in the South China Sea, and a Chinese Navy ship.  The U.S. ship saw the  Chinese ship heading towards them and a helicopter had taken off from the ship and was also heading towards the U.S.S. Chancellorsville. The U.S. ship tried to make radio contact with the Chinese helicopter.  There was initially no response. Then the Chinese ship responded on the radio.  What followed was a fascinating example of how to answer questions, without answering the question that was asked (quoting from the article):

“This is U.S. Warship 62. Good morning, sir. It is a pleasant day at sea, over.”

No response.

“This is U.S. Warship 62. Good morning, sir. It is a pleasant day to be at sea, over.”

. . .

[The Captain ordered the message repeated in Chinese:]

“Chinese Warship 575, this is U.S. Warship 62,” Ensign Li said in Chinese. “Today is a sunny day for a sea voyage, over.”

More minutes ticked by…

Suddenly, the radio crackled again as the frigate responded in Chinese: “U.S. Warship 62, this is Chinese Warship 575. Today’s weather is great. It is a pleasure to meet you at sea.”

Ensign Li responded, also in Chinese: “This is U.S. Warship 62. The weather is indeed great. It is a pleasure to meet you, too, over.”

Preliminaries dispensed with, the Chinese ship got down to business, switching to English. “How long have you been since departing from your home port? Over.”

Captain Renshaw immediately shook his head. “No, we’re not answering that. I would never ask him that.”

Ensign Giancana picked up the radio again. “Chinese Warship 575, this is U.S. Navy Warship 62. We do not talk about our schedules. But we are enjoying our time at sea, over.”

…

“U.S. Navy Warship 62, this is Chinese Navy Warship 575,” came a new message. “Do you continue to have long-term voyage at sea? Over.”

Another no-no. Telling the Chinese the intended duration of the trip could be an inherent acknowledgment that they had the right to know, Captain Renshaw said. And that is not considered freedom of navigation.

“This is U.S. Navy Warship 62,” Captain Renshaw responded. “Roger, all of our voyages are short because we enjoy our time at sea no matter how long we are away from home. Over.”

In the context of negotiations a regular issue is how to respond to a  question from your counterpart that you don’t want to answer or that you can’t answer.  This transcript gives two techniques I often discuss in class.  The first, is to be direct and say you can’t answer the question.  This was the first approach—when the U.S. ship said directly that “we do not talk about our schedules.”  The second approach is the tougher one: answer the question without really answering it.  The Captain’s final response was a masterful example when he didn’t say how long they will be on the trip, but said instead “all our voyages are short because we enjoy our time at sea…”

Of course, that didn’t put an end to it as two different Chinese ships, in succession, monitored the U.S. ship until it left the South China Sea two days later.

The full article is available here .