A Dutch warship was harassed by Chinese military aircraft in the East China Sea on Friday, the Netherlands said, becoming the latest country to accuse Beijing’s forces of initiating potentially unsafe encounters in international waters.
In a statement Friday, the Dutch Defense Ministry said two Chinese fighter jets circled the frigate HNLMS Tromp several times, while its marine patrol helicopter was “approached” by two Chinese warplanes and a helicopter during a patrol.
“This created a potentially unsafe situation,” the statement said.
There is no such thing as international waters. China’s exclusive economic zone is one of 17 in the world that cannot be sailed through or flown through without prior authorization and only for peaceful transfer. No “war games” and no deployment of weapons. Just passage with prior authorization.
The Dutch and Australians have violated this and are now complaining.
Also this week in the news, Russia is sending ships off the coast of Cuba for similar war games. The coverage in the US is about escalation and being provocative.
Which is it? Stop being such stupid hypocrites.
Also for any of you stupid Americans still wondering there is a reason the US and NATO does this just like a reason Russia does it. You try and provoke a response so that the potential combatant airplane and naval vessels make an appearance. Then you capture and study every reflection and image you can to see if they have adapted or changed. Also why the US and China and Russia all fit extra useless bits onto their ships and planes as both decoys and radar signature invalidators. You want your stuff to look as shit as possible visibly and via radar because you’re being spied on.
Make no doubt this is why this is happening.
Edit: Americans are yet again proven to be fucking stupid.
There is no such thing as international waters. China’s exclusive economic zone is one of 17
I mean this is just definitionally wrong. You can’t acknowledge the existence of exclusive economic zones without also recognizing international and territorial waters.
“The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal state’s rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters are international waters.[2”
The Dutch and Australians have violated this and are now complaining.
No, the Chinese government is trying to both have their cake and eat it. They are acknowledging the idea of internationally recognized law, but ignoring the aspects they do not want to adhere to.
By definition economic exclusion zones only apply to the resources beneath the surface, the surface itself is international waters. The water people are allowed to protect as if it were sovereign land is only territorial waters, which extend 200 miles from the recognized Continental shelf.
Actually, this isn’t the full story. Military activities in a nation’s EEZ is a point of contention: countries like Brazil, India, Pakistan, China, Iran, Malaysia, and Indonesia object to this. It’s not explicitly defined in UNCLOS whether military activities should be permitted, and it’s the prevailing view of countries that make up almost half of the world’s population that it shouldn’t be. International law hasn’t really been extensively challenged in this regard until very recently (the past decade or two), so the debate on military activities within EEZ is still that, a debate.
Edit: for reference, it’s mostly the big ex-colonial maritime trading powers that are in support of this because it makes their trade easier, while those countries who exercise coastal rights and natural resource exploration rights are opposed.
It’s not explicitly defined in UNCLOS whether military activities should be permitted,
Meaning there is no provision against it. Article 87 and 58 are both very broad in their protections to any state operating outside of territorial waters, there is no reason to assume the freedom of movement only applies to commercial vessels.
so the debate on military activities within EEZ is still that, a debate.
Only so much that international law in and of itself is still up for debate. If that’s your argument then the notion of international law is moot, and we will be doomed to regress fully back to might makes right foreign policy.
I also feel as if you are attempting to narrow the argument into a specific corridor that suits the Chinese perspective. Yes there are countries that disagree with the broad protections offered by the current international law, but that’s not the only problem China has been rubbing against in regards to LOSC. They aren’t just attempting to govern military movements in their EEZ, they are attempting to expand it, and police the movement of both military and commercial traffic.
I mean, they basically have a paramilitary fishing fleet that aggressively and violently violates other countries EEZ and territorial waters all the time.
reference, it’s mostly the big ex-colonial maritime trading powers that are in support of this because it makes their trade easier, while those countries who exercise coastal rights and natural resource exploration rights are opposed.
I think the point of LOSC is to deescalate points of contentions in spaces where we all have to operate. The rights of freedom of movement serves China just as much as it does the United States.
I think, I feel
Ok, glad that we agree that we’re operating in a grey zone for international law. I respect your opinion.
I think, I feel
Yeah, it’s an opinion. Just like yours, I just don’t pretend to represent opinions as facts.
operating in a grey zone for international law.
Yeah, I mean what else can you expect from a system that was fabricated to substantiate the clean wehrmacht theory?
But, if we’re sticking to the main topic. According to UNCLOS, travel in everything but territorial water has pretty broad protections.
Whether international law is enforceable, logical, or ethical is a different debate that I wouldn’t want to throw my hat into.
According to UNCLOS, which the US isn’t signatory to? Some “international” ass law
Right, but we are talking about China whom are signatories…
Like I said, your issue seems to be raised at the concept of international law. Not the individual international agreement we have been speaking about.
It’s international waters, but simultaneously you’re not allowed to fly in them? You’re not allowed to follow standard intercept procedures in them? I guess China could just claim the entire East China Sea under its ADIZ like the US did off the Pacific Coast and off the Aleutians, but China didn’t. ADIZ isn’t an internationally protected rule, anyway, so my understanding is that China only does the equivalent of ADIZ intercepts for operators it deems hostile instead of enforcing ADIZ rigidly.
