Start date 1993 | ||
The Yinhe incident (Chinese: 银河号事件) was a claim made in 1993 by the United States government that the China-based regular container ship Yinhe (银河, "Milky Way") was carrying materials for chemical weapons to Iran. The United States Navy forced the Yinhe to stop in the international waters of the Indian Ocean for three weeks. The Chinese government subsequently agreed to have the ship searched in Saudi Arabia by a joint Saudi-U.S. team. The final inspection report, signed by U.S. government representatives, concluded that "the complete inspection of all the containers aboard the Yinhe showed conclusively [that the chemicals] were not among the ship's cargo". Even though the Chinese were proven innocent, the U.S. government refused to apologize "because the United States had acted in good faith on intelligence from a number of sources, all of which proved to be wrong."
Contents
The ship
The Yinhe was a Chinese regular container ship that ran on a fixed schedule between Tianjin Xinggang and Kuwait. Its scheduled port visits included Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Dubai and Daman and Diu. It belonged to the China Ocean Shipping Corporation (Chinese: 中远集团), and had maintained a perfect on-time schedule before the incident.
Timeline
In late July 1993, the United States alleged that a Chinese ship was carrying chemical weapon materials to Abbas Harbor, Iran, citing unspecified intelligence provided by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). At this time, the Yinhe had already departed China and was on its way to Kuwait. U.S. officials later claimed that secret diplomatic efforts were made from this point on.
On August 9, 1993, China disclosed to the media that the U.S. Navy was harassing the Yinhe in international waters, and declared officially that the ship did not carry any chemical weapons materials. The U.S. government dismissed the declaration and threatened to search the ship immediately.
On August 15, 1993, after three weeks at sea whilst "for more than 20 days with its crew suffering from a shortage of fresh water", the ship was allowed to "take on fuel and water ... to ensure the safety of the vessel and crew" upon request from the shipping company.
On August 28, 1993, U.S. and China agreed to an open inspection of the ship at a Saudi Arabian port, by a Saudi-United States joint team.
The inspection
The intelligence itself, as later revealed, concluded that it was impossible to positively determine that the Chinese ship was carrying chemical weapons materials. Although the inspection team was claimed to be mostly Saudi Arabian, it was reported that the personnel were mostly from the United States Navy, with test equipment flown directly from the United States. The information provided by the CIA specified container numbers CSAQ3101 and CSAQ3102, but there was no such container number. The container with the most similar number, CSAQ3010, was opened first, and it turned out to be poker cards being exported to Pakistan.
All 628 containers on board were inspected by U.S. technicians. The U.S. intelligence specified thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride as the chemical weapon materials. In the end, these were not found at all, and the only chemical material carried by the ship was ordinary solid paint.
On September 4, the inspection report proved that the accusations were baseless. The representatives of all three governments signed the certification that the ship was NOT carrying any chemical weapons cargo.
Aftermath
American officials refused to make any apology for the faulty intercept action as they claimed that the United States had acted in "good faith" on intelligence from a number of sources even all of which proved to be wrong. And American officials said they were discussing whether the United States had an obligation to pay compensation to the ship owner, China Ocean Shipping Corporation, but there is no further confirmation of the compensation agreement or execution. When the accusations were reported in China, Chinese nationalism increased in response. The Chinese government attempted to downplay the issue by claiming that the accusation was not the official stand of the American government and did not represent the majority opinion in the United States. A U.S. House report in 2001 concluded that the Yinhe incident "has been repeatedly cited as a case of international bullying by the United States".
Although many American diplomats and the CIA openly admitted that the incident was a mistake, then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Einhorn testified before Congress in 1997 that "our initial information was correct, that the goods were intended to be on board that ship ... we think our intelligence community had done a good job in that case".