What's US Vessel up to on Chinese Waters?

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 30, 2002

What's US Vessel up to on Chinese Waters?

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A high-risk cat-and-rat game was staged on China Sea waters on September 19, NBC said. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reportedly made several representations to the US government about recent activities of monitoring and reconnaissance of the Dowditch, a US naval vessel, in China's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) without approval.

Recently China's military aircraft and naval vessels have confronted frequently with Dowditch, which conducted detection in the Yellow Sea, with the shortest distance between two sides at only 60 meters. Then Chinese vessels, through international signals, demanded it to stop work and leave the zone, the report said. The Chinese side "didn't take actions regarded as dangerous".

Some US defense officials critiqued China's protest as "unreasonable", according to the Washington Post, because Dowditch was unarmed, and conducted its work at the high seas about 100 km from China's northern coast. "An unarmed vessel for hydrographic survey can hardly be called a menace", an official argued. He even added that Dowditch had another task, that is, to "display the freedom of voyage of the US navy on high seas".

True color of "Dowditch"

The US military side stressed repeatedly that "Dowditch" was unarmed, but didn't mention a word on its nature. In fact, it is an intelligence vessel.

This can be easily found out from official documents of the US navy: Dowditch, one of the 27 US vessels contributed to "special tasks". The so-called "special task" vessels refers to those providing intelligence support to the Pentagon House and other US government departments, in common words, a spy ship. To conceal their true identities these spy ships are put under different titles, such as for sea geographical survey, sea reconnaissance, vessel support, missile measurement, sonar studies, sea cable repairing, ballistic missile experiments and so on. Their crew, except sailors, are all intelligence experts under the cloak of "non-governmental scientific researchers".

Only "innocent passage" allowed for foreign vessels in EEZs

US defense officials insisted that Dowditch conducted activities on high seas beyond the 12 sea mile boundary line of China's territorial waters. In fact, according to related articles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the waters still belong to China's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The Convention says that foreign countries enjoy the freedom of sailing, flying across and piping undersea cables and tubes in EEZs. But these rights must be exercised only by observing the laws and regulations of the coastal countries, which have sovereign rights in a 200-mile zone with respect to natural resources and certain economic activities.

Foreign aircraft and vessels must abide by international principles and laws of the coastal countries when crossing EEZs, and any actions harming the sovereignty, security and interests of the coastal countries are forbidden, according to the Convention, that is, the principle of 'innocent passage".

Besides, tracking and supervising foreign vessels and aircraft crossing over EEZs are common and normal practices among coastal countries.

US sticks to its own logic

The principle of "voyage freedom on high seas" mentioned by US media, is actually an international practice, which refers to international straits, high sea areas and important strait channels. However, beginning from 1982, the new international law on sea defined contiguous area, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf beyond territorial waters. While the US still sticks to its traditional 3-mile system, insisting that US military and commercial vessels can pass through foreign waters without announcement in advance. The US holds that it has "right of free sailing and flying across all sea areas, including international straits, beyond 12-mile territorial waters". That is to say, US military vessels could sail freely in other countries' EEZs and contiguous areas, with American fighters on aircraft carriers taking off and landing, missiles, cannons and torpedoes exercised and intelligence detection, military drill and other menace actions conducted all at liberty.

On the contrary, most world countries would abide by the Convention by accepting 12-mile territorial waters and defining contiguous area and EEZs beyond. Many coastal countries therefore insist their permission in advance for "innocent passage" by foreign aircraft and vessels and respect for their administration rights. The US, apparently continuing to cling to its own logic, will naturally contend with coastal countries, which observe international laws.

By PD Online Staff Member Li Heng

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