(yeah...slow news day)
The Higgins - a guided-missile destroyer - and the Antietam - a guided-missile cruiser reportedly sailed twelve nautical miles of the Paracel Islands on Sunday.
“We express strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the U.S. side’s actions, and we strongly urge the U.S. to immediately stop such provocative actions that infringe upon China’s sovereignty and threaten China’s security,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The sailing moves come days after US withdrew an invitation to China to attend a major US-hosted naval drill.
The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC and previously attended by China, was billed as the world’s largest international maritime exercise and held every two years in Hawaii in June and July.
The US military said on Thursday it had disinvited China from the Rim of the Pacific exercises, the world’s biggest international naval drill, citing “China’s continued militarisation of the South China Sea”.
It came just days after China’s air force landed an advanced H-6K strategic bomber on Woody Island in the Paracel group and deployed radar position, anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles on three newly built features on Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands.
Comments
(Old Spike)
the us provokes china? seriously? china has been artificially raising and expanding islands well outside its EEZ, and installing military facilities there in direct violation of international law. it's not just a general application of international law either, this specific area was investigated because of the dispute, and it was ruled to unequivocably be international waters, not china.
in the picture china is claiming the area inside the dotted red line as theirs, the blue lines indicate the various countries' EEZs, and the area between is international waters meaning no one country has any claim over it.
(Old Spike)
What do you think the title should be?
US poking/provoking the Chinese Navy is just the latest thing that's happened. I listed a couple other things that happened in the past week that led up to it, pulled from different articles. Talking about the Sth China Sea is a broader topic. I'm more interested in how this relates to the Korean peace negotiations. It seems wierd that the US is involved but not China. I wonder if this poke is a message related to that, or if it's just a reaction to the bombers as mentioned in the post.
(Old Spike)
interested in why you think navigating through international waters is poking/provoking the chinese? the US and other countries have always sailed through there, as does millions of tonnes of shipping all the time, because it's the main route through south east asia. china's claim to the islands and the surrounding sea is based on nothing more than the statement "they belong to china".
"china chases US from claimed islands"? i dunno i can't think of anything good and also accurate without it being too long. doesn't really matter if the title stays, i was just concerned you believed it was accurate.
(Old Spike)
accurate without it being too long
Yeah it's hard to keep it concise ... and have enough spice to get people to click ;)
I had to choose a point in history to start from & just chose last week because that's when this latest dick-measuring contest started.
international waters
I see it as disputed waters. It's a provocation because China claims sovereignty over it & the US knows this. To simply sail in there without acknowledging China's claim is a provocation, no?
concerned you believed it was accurate
My view on the South China Sea is a bit vague. As a net exporting nation & a global rival of the US, China has to secure trade routes to at least the ASEAN countries & not be subject to complete maritime domination of the US. As it is, in the event of a conflict, the US could just blockade the ports in China any time it likes. That makes no strategic sense. I see the Sth China Sea issue as a buffer zone against this dominance & also a projection of power within the region. I can understand regional countries like Japan being uncomfortable about it but other than Taiwan I don't think China has hostile intentions towards anyone & no history of global conquest.
By the way, a similar thing happened a few weeks ago when an Aussie frigate sailed through the Sth China Sea. It's kind of a game. The US continually pokes just because it can. The US still rules the oceans, having about 10 supercarriers. China has 2 or 3 with another being built. So long as those 2 countries play friendly games of poking & prodding while trading with each other it's about the best we can hope for.
(Old Spike)
china's claim was ruled invalid back in 2016 when it was brought before and international maritime law tribunal. the ruling makes sense since the area claimed is far beyond china's 200 mile EEZ, extands into (and even right up to the beaches of) other countries' EEZs, and has no basis in international law. their whole claim is based on that the islands were written into a map 500 years ago, but by law countries have to actually maintain sovereignty, as in have people living there, in order to claim islands or rocks as their own.
china doesn't have to secure routes for trade or otherwise, the route is already secure. it is and has been used by thousands of tonnes of shipping every day as it's the main route through sea east asia. the area is international waters meaning nobody can prevent any other ship from sailing through, trade or otherwise. the US isn't making a claim to the area, they're (and so is literally everybody else) just saying the area is international waters, not china's territory. the US wasn't poking, they were just passing through, as was the aussie ship you mentioned, and as do hundreds of other ships daily since it's a major thoroughfare.
(Old Spike)
china doesn't have to secure routes for trade or otherwise, the route is already secure
The US Navy keeps the trade routes secure. It doesn't seem like China is interested in leaving their economy in the hands of the US. I wanna know what their intention is towards the Strait of Malacca.
(Old Spike)
can you see the good ole US of A on that map anywhere? if you can then i guess youre right that its china whos provoking the usa..maybe they are provoking their neighbours but it was the usa who sailed up there on sunday..
(Old Spike)
I see the US of A on that map. See all that blue? That's the US of Motherfucking A, baby.
(Old Spike)
it's international waters. not only the USA but ships of all nationalities sail through there daily. this is why it's important to resist china's claim, because it's international waters and not for any one country to control.
(Old Spike)
Exactly!!! The US doesn't control the waters, but let's be clear, when you roll up in a nuclear powered aircraft carrier with the population of a small city and enough firepower to destory one, bitches get the fuck out of our way.
(Old Spike)
China aren't bitches though. You can tell by the way they squealed.
(Old Spike)
Within 12 nautical miles of a landmass is not international waters. Maritime law is sketchy but that's about the most agreed upon standard. There are different parties laying claim to the Paracel Islands & China is one of them so to simply sail within 12 nm is a symbolic gesture & the US knows it.
(Site Administrator)
china really is making a ridiculous claim on those waters. problem is they're completely serious. do people who want to sail from vietnam to the Philippines for example ment to go all the way around scraping the keel against malaysia and brunei? that's some bullshit right there.
(Old Spike)
If you're in a military vessel, yeah they do. Trade ships are fine though.