China says US warship's Spratly islands passage 'illegal'

BBC ^ | 1 hour ago, 2015-10-27 | BBC

[WhiskeyX]

Chinese officials have condemned a US ship's passage near disputed islands in the South China Sea as "illegal".

The guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached the 12-nautical mile zone China claims around Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago.

The freedom of navigation operation is a serious challenge to China's claims over the artificial islands.

Its foreign ministry said the ship had been warned and characterised the act as a "threat to China's sovereignty".

Lu Kang, the spokesman, added that Beijing would "resolutely respond to any country's deliberately provocative actions" and that the ship had been "tracked and warned" while on the mission to deliberately enter the disputed waters.

Meanwhile, US Defence Department spokesman Cdr Bill Urban said that "the United States is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea in accordance with international law".

The move was welcomed by several countries in the East Asia region, including the Philippines and Japan.

[central_va]

Slap a 30 percent tariff on every piece of Chinese junk sent to the US.

Hear, hear!

[Starboard]

We’ve seen ill gotten territorial gains in Asia before — Japanese imperial expansion in the 1930’s. The consequences of that aggression are well known and serve as a good example of what unchecked expansionism can lead to.

[PGR88]

Well, at least we have finally won the Vietnam War.

As China continues creating new territory off the coasts of Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, Vietnam will become a stronger and stronger ally of the USA.

[Leaning Right]

The Chinese actions are nothing short of a gigantic invasion and conquest of these nation’s territories and effort to obstruct the international maritime routes.

Absolutely. And the U.S. has no choice but to exercise freedom of navigation in the area.

Personally, I'd like to see a small convoy of warships, including one from each country in the area (Vietnam, Japan, Australia, etc.). That might be "provocative", but what other choice is there?

Now, where it will really get hairy is when China attempts to drill for oil in a sea region that China claims, but is really in the economic zone of another nation. Then what? A mere sail-by won't do.

[WhiskeyX]

Also:

Spratly Islands Conflicting Claims

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/spratly-conflict.htm

Spratly Islands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratly_Islands

Spratly Islands military settlements

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratly_Islands#/media/File:Spratly_Is_since_NalGeoMaps.png

[massgopguy]

Isn’t this another Tom Clancy book coming true?

[WhiskeyX]

” That might be “provocative”, but what other choice is there?”

I would characterize the response as being “counter-provocative” given how China provoked this situation with their seizures of these territories. Settlement of the overlapping claims has been impossible for a number of very good reasons, starting in particular with the fact of how the current occupations and claims are impossibly mixed together beyond hope of a customary remedy. One method, which would not be accepted by all parties without the threat of force, is to lump all of the territories into one large pool of assets, allocate a value to each asset taking the Economic Zones into consideration, grant their values to the nations according to past and present occupations, and then let the parties use the credits from those apportioned values be used to bid on the assets they wish to claim. Moving forward, thos sovereignties would have the force of international law.

Spratly Islands Conflicting Claims
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/spratly-conflict.htm

[bunkerhill7]

Obummer wants a one plane/one-ship fleet U.S. Navy.

Iraq/Syria ISIS : couple planes, couple targets = phony war

Spratly - one US ship = phony commander in chief

Obummer = POS

[bunkerhill7]

Obummer wants a one plane/one-ship fleet U.S. Navy.

Iraq/Syria ISIS : couple planes, couple targets = phony war

Spratly - one US ship = phony commander in chief

1958 Eisenhower sends in whole 7th fleet to Straits of Taiwan to scare the crap outa china.

2015 Obummer sends one ship.

Obummer = POS

[WhiskeyX]

“Spratly - one US ship = phony commander in chief”

Other warships in the task force were nearby for any needed support. Note, it is a bad idea to be maneuvering a significant sized task force among the innumerable reefs, islets, cays, and so forth in the immediate area of the Spratly Islands and the Dangerous Ground as it is known. Many a ship and boat have been lost due to grounding on them. They make the maneuvering of an entire task force unnecessarily risky, whereas one or two ships may find adequate sea room for their maneuvers.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Almost kills me to give obummer credit for a right move.”

Yes it does feel very strange. Seems like a good move on our part; just figuring out why it was done is difficult!

[Trumpinator]

This island was exposed at low tide and covered up in high tide. The laws of the sea state - based on an article I read - stated an artificially expanded island can only claim 500 meters beyond the shore. In the case of the Spratley’s it is unclear if they are China’s to begin with. They are also claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam.

[bunkerhill7]

Confucius say man who have only one ship for save face have junk.

[Hoodat]

Obviously, someone in the Pentagon did this without Valerie Jarret’s knowledge.

[Svartalfiar]

[dhs12345]

“A broken clock is right twice a day.”