The one-sentence comment by the foreign ministry offered no details on what discussions were underway or why China on Thursday seized the drone, which, according to the Pentagon, was being operated by civilian contractors to conduct oceanic research. The USNS Bowditch, which is not a combat ship, was stopped in international waters Thursday afternoon and recovering two of the gliders when the Chinese ship approached, Davis said. The U.S. said it issued a formal diplomatic complaint over the seizure and demanded the drone's return. On Saturday, the Chinese foreign ministry said that American “hyping up” was not conducive to a smooth resolution of an incident that began when a Chinese naval vessel discovered a piece of “unidentified equipment” and checked it to prevent any navigational safety issues, before discovering it was a US drone. "China has received the U.S. request to return the device, communication is open between the relevant departments of the two sides and I believe this matter will obtain a smooth resolution," the official was quoted as saying. We express regret at this.” 
 
 Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook later said in a statement: “Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV [unmanned underwater vehicle] to the United States.” 
 
 On Friday, in a press conference at the White House, Barack Obama cautioned Trump against allowing relations with China to slip into “full conflict mode”. Beijing was angered by President-elect Donald Trump's decision to talk by phone with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2, and by his later comments that he did not feel "bound by a one-China policy" regarding the status of Taiwan, unless the U.S. could gain trade or other benefits from China. This goes to the core of how they see themselves and their reaction on this issue could end up being very significant.” 
 
 On Thursday, Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Guardian the seizure of the drone looked “like signalling from the Chinese in response to Trump’s Taiwan call”.
– In what appears to have been a spelling error and not a play on words, Donald Trump slammed China's "unpresidented" seizure of a US underwater drone in a tweet Saturday morning. "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act," he tweeted. He eventually corrected the spelling to "unprecedented." The AP, which describes the Thursday incident in the South China Sea as one of the most serious encounters between the US and Chinese militaries in years, reports that China announced earlier on Saturday that it is in talks with the US about "appropriately handling" the issue. Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Friday that the drone was seized while collecting scientific data near the Philippines. "It is ours. It's clearly marked as ours. We would like it back, and we would like this not to happen again," Davis said. The Guardian reports that in his Friday press conference, Obama warned Trump against letting relations with China enter "full conflict" mode with a belligerent stance on Taiwan and other issues. "The idea of 'One China is at the heart of their conception as a nation," Obama said, "and so if you are going to upend this understanding, you have to have thought through what are the consequences."