The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. December 20, 2016 China Returns U.S. Navy Drone Seized in South China Sea ------------------------------------------------------- Chinese and U.S. officials say China has returned a U.S. Navy drone China seized in the South China Sea last week. The U.S. has called the seizure of the drone illegal. China has claimed territorial control over the South China Sea, one of the busiest trade routes in the world, while the U.S. has asserted the area should be considered international waters. After the drone was first seized, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted, "China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters-rips it out of the water and takes it to China in unpresidented [sic] act." Trump later deleted the tweet, after realizing he had misspelled "unprecedented." Trump also tweeted, "We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!" .