By Shannon Tiezzi
China’s RIMPAC surveillance reveals a troubling disconnect in its interpretation of freedom of navigation.
Despite hopeful comments by U.S. military officials, China’s sending a naval vessel to spy on the international RIMPAC exercises near Hawaii does not indicate a tacit recognition that similar U.S. operations near China are legal. Instead, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman complained Thursday that such U.S. reconnaissance missions “severely compromise China’s national security.”
As Zach wrote earlier this week on the Flashpoints blog, Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, was remarkably upbeat about the revelation that a Chinese auxiliary general-intelligence ship was shadowing the RIMPAC drills within Hawaii’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Locklear saw the Chinese vessel’s presence as “an acceptance by the Chinese of what we’ve been saying to them for some time, [which] is that military operations and survey operations in another country’s EEZs … are within international law and are acceptable.” China has long protested U.S. surveillance missions within China’s EEZs, while the U.S. believes waters outside the 12 nautical mile territorial zone are international waters and thus fair game for surveillance missions. Because China sent a vessel to perform reconnaissance within Hawaii’s EEZ, Locklear was hopeful China had come around to the standard international interpretation.
However, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman made it clear that China’s position has not changed. Geng Yasheng, speaking at the ministry’s regular monthly press conference, defended the presence of China’s AGI vessel in the Hawaiian EEZ, saying that the vessel was acting in line with international law. “We hope the U.S. [will] respect the legitimate rights of the Chinese ship,” Geng said, and the U.S. navy has shown every indication of doing so.
Still, China’s position that its own ship is acting lawfully doesn’t seem to have changed its dislike for similar actions by U.S. vessels. Geng objected to a comparison between the two: “The activities of the Chinese navy ship, no matter in terms of scope, frequency, or pattern, can not be compared to the U.S. ship and aircraft’s high intensity close-in reconnaissance against China.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat