US Navy decides to send Arleigh Burke class destroyer to escort unarmed ship

FOXNEWS: The U.S. Navy vessel caught up in diplomatic tension between the U.S. and China has no plans to discontinue its operations in the South China Sea, Pentagon sources told FOX News on Thursday.

A Department of Defense official told FOX News that the USS Chung-Hoon has been assigned to escort the USNS Impeccable as it conducts oceanographic floor mapping and submarine surveillance in the South China Sea.

The Navy has said the Impeccable was operating legally on Sunday when it was harassed by Chinese boats in international waters about 75 miles off China's southern island province of Hainan.

But China's Defense Ministry has disputed the charge, and has demanded that the U.S. Navy end surveillance missions off the country's southern coast.

Obama has called for opening talks. The decision to send the Chung-Hoon was made inside the US Navy