Navy Should Be ‘In the Way,’ But ‘Non-Provocative,’ CNO Says

The U.S. Navy must stay forward and  “in the way” to deter nations that challenge international rules, the chief of naval operations said Wednesday, days after a Chinese ship crossed dangerously close to American and Canadian navy ships in the Taiwan Strait.

“We can't just be milling about. It has to be purposeful, and it has to be non-provocative,” Adm. Mike Gilday said at a Brookings Institution event.

On Saturday, the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were traveling through the Taiwan Strait, “where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply,” when a Chinese navy destroyer twice cut across the bow of the Chung-Hoon, according to a press release by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

The Chung-Hoon had to slow down to avoid hitting the Chinese destroyer, which at one point was just 150 yards away, according to the release.

“We are operating in accordance with international law, under, on, and above the sea so that others can too. And so we're trying to operate very responsibly,” Gilday said Wednesday. “We are not looking to be provocative. We want things to remain stable and predictable. That's our job out there during peacetime. And to deter anybody from doing anything malign as best we can, and if they do something malign, to expose it.”

Gilday praised the way sailors are handling unsafe interactions like the one in the Taiwan Strait.

“What you are seeing in those interactions, and I'm very proud of not only the commanding officers of the ships that to go nose-to-nose with the [People’s Republic of China] and the Russians, but also our aircrews in the air that are experiencing the same type of, at times, aggressive behavior. And so we're handling that, I think, very well, very professionally.”

Asked whether he was worried about the risk of a crisis in the Pacific, Gilday said he is “encouraged by the most recent turn in dialog by senior leaders with respect to toning down the, I would say, militaristic tone. I think that's been helpful. I think that we need to continue to operate out there, and we need to continue to operate forward.”

Gilday also said he hopes China’s navy can behave like they have in the Middle East to fight piracy.

“In terms of being a bit of an optimist, and if I take a look at what we've done with a large number of nations to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off of the coast of East Africa, the Chinese have been involved in that. And they've been good partners with respect to combating piracy, thwarting it, and keeping those sea lanes open and accessible for all,” he said. “So that should be a model, I think, for the behavior that we should expect from the PRC and I would encourage more of… those types of collaborative operations that [seek] to benefit all of us.”

The Navy will likely focus Project Overmatch capabilities in the Pacific first—and eventually globally—following experiments with the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, Gilday also said at the event. Project Overmatch, part of the Pentagon’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control push, looks to find how to share any data over any network.

The Navy is also working with allies on the project, including Australia, France, and Britain, and Gilday expects that list to grow. 

“It’s going well, but we still have more work to do. We’re learning every day.”