Trump aide credits president-elect for China returning drone

A top aide to Donald Trump suggested that the president-elect was integral in getting China to return the U.S. Navy underwater drone it seized two days before.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller tweeted that Trump “gets it done,” linking to a story about China indicating it would return the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

@realdonaldtrump gets it done: “China says it will return US drone it seized https://t.co/xevxLTlIP3“

— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) December 17, 2016

{mosads}The aide’s tweet was an apparent reference to Trump’s tweet earlier Saturday where the president-elect condemned China for taking the drone.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act,” Trump tweeted, an edited version of an earlier post that misspelled “unprecedented.”

China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2016

The Pentagon confirmed Saturday that China will return the unmanned underwater vehicle that it took from the South China Sea.

“Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

In a statement earlier Saturday, China indicated it would return the drone after getting into contact with the U.S.

“Upon confirming that the device was a U.S. underwater drone, the Chinese side decided to transfer it to the U.S. side in an appropriate manner,” said the spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, Sr. Col. Yang Yujun, according to CNN. “China and the United States have been communicating about this process.”