“We conduct B-52 flights in worldwide air space in that part of the world all the time”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told a news briefing on Thursday. The planes, which didn’t pass through the territorial zones around the reclaimed reefs, received verbal warnings from Chinese ground controllers and continued their operation in accordance with worldwide law, he said.
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Several posts on The Interpreter have argued recently that Australia should join the USA in conducting freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.
China, however, has a different set of rules in mind, “completely divorced from the UN Convention on Laws of the Sea”, said Gregory Poling, director of the Center for Strategic and global Studies’ Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
A few experts argue the USS Lassen operation sent mixed messages, since it was conducted in the manner of an “innocent passage” – when a ship takes measures to convey it is innocently passing through waters belonging to another nation – that would tacitly affirm China’s claims. Although Indonesia is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea, it has long feared that the PRC’s claim to an exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea would challenge its own EEZ around the undisputed Natuna Islands. “We welcome its rise, and its inclusion in this architecture; but it must uphold President Xi’s pledge not to “pursue militarization” in the South China Sea”, he added. China’s territorial claims overlap those of Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit next week, Obama is reportedly expected to reassert Washington’s commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight in the area.
“This, though, is not a USA agreement or US code, it’s one that would need to be implemented by the parties involved”. During this latest dispute, the United States showed respect for China’s core interests when President Obama clearly stated that the U.S. was “not a claimant” in the South China Sea dispute.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China did not dispute Indonesia’s sovereignty over the Natunas but that there were “some maritime disputes”.
A Chinese destroyer shadowed the USA vessel on October 27, but Lassen crewmembers later told Stars and Stripes that communication between the two ships remained calm and professional throughout the mission. These islands in the South China Sea became prized possessions after it was known that they are located near sites of major offshore oil deposits. But China appears to be reluctant about it, though Beijing claims it is taking an open-minded attitude on the issue.
Current events suggest that the US-China military-to-military confidence-building measures are working to build understanding and prevent the situation from becoming uncontrollable by providing channels to quickly restore relations. Last year, for instance, a Chinese fighter intercepted a US Navy P-8 near Woody Island, drawing a protest from the Pentagon.
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“We asked for clarification on what they mean and what they mean by the nine-dash line”.
