Editorial: China Rejects Latest US FONOP in the South China Sea

USS Curtis Wilbur (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Shannon Tiezzi

The second U.S. FONOP had a different legal rationale than the first — and sparked a different Chinese response.

As The Diplomat previously reported, the United States has conducted a second freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea. On January 30, the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels, which is controlled by China but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. This particular FONOP was designed to assert the right of innocent passage through territorial waters without having to give advance notice (something both China and Vietnam demand when foreign vessels transit through territorial waters in the Paracels.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded sternly to the FONOP, saying that “the U.S. navy vessel violated the relevant Chinese law and entered China’s territorial sea without authorization.” As spokesperson Hua Chunying explained, “According to the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, foreign ships for military purposes shall be subject to approval by the Government of the People’s Republic of China for entering the territorial sea of the People’s Republic of China.”

It’s precisely this law requiring prior approval, even for innocent passage, that the U.S. FONOP was designed to counter. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said in a statement:

This operation challenged attempts by the three claimants, China, Taiwan and Vietnam, to restrict navigation rights and freedoms around the features they claim by policies that require prior permission or notification of transit within territorial seas. The excessive claims regarding Triton Island are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention.

Read the full story at The Diplomat