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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| South China Sea '€˜islands' only demilitarized until first warbird touches down |
| 2015-11-01 |
| [Rooters] At last. After weeks of Hamlet-esque public debate, U.S. defense officials ordered Aegis destroyer USS Lassen to cruise within 12 nautical miles (nm) of Subi Reef on Oct. 27. The reef is an undersea rock in the South China Sea that Beijing has built into an artificial island in the contested Spratly Islands. It wants it to be considered a real island, with a "territorial sea" surrounding it. That means a 12-nm zone where Chinese domestic law prevails, just like Beijing. China claims it has the right to do so based on "historic" claims to most of the South China Sea, an area through which $5 trillion dollars worth of trade passes. By sending a warship within that zone, the U.S. Navy signaled that the United States rejects efforts to rewrite the rules governing the sea and sky. International law clearly states the open sea is no one's property, and such "freedom-of-navigation" voyages are standard fare elsewhere in the seven seas. And the Lassen's cruise can't be a one-time trip without giving China another opportunity to assert its unlawful authority. The nice thing about the law of the sea is that it's well written. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), says coastal states may construct artificial islands within "exclusive economic zones" extending 200 nautical miles off their coasts. Beyond that limit, the law allows no such projects. Holmes provides an excellent analysis. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 China playing the long game here. And it's not the 12 nm territorial waters it's interested in, its new 200 nm EEZ it will at some point claim. The South China Sea contains a lot of oil and gas, perhaps the largest undiscovered fields that remain. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2015-11-01 18:44 |