Chinese navy begins US economic zone patrols

Financial Times ^ | June 2, 2013 | Kathrin Hille

[JerseyanExile]

The Chinese military has started operating within the US’s exclusive economic zone, a move that could transform the dynamic between the dominant Pacific naval power and its main challenger.

Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of US forces in the Pacific, on Sunday confirmed the revelation from a Chinese military delegate at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defence forum in Singapore, that the People’s Liberation Army navy had started “reciprocating” the US navy’s habit of sending ships and aircraft into the 200-nautical-mile zone off China’s coast.

Under international law, each country has the exclusive right to the economic resources inside a 200-nautical-mile zone off its coast, a zone different from coastal states’ 12-mile national waters.

The US and most other countries interpret international law to allow a right of free passage for military vessels through the EEZ, but China disagrees and has long chided the US practice of frequent surveillance missions along the Chinese coast.

“They are, and we encourage their ability to do that,” said Adm Locklear about China’s claim that its military was making forays into the US EEZ. He added that, as the exclusive economic zones of all coastal states account for about one-third of the world’s oceans, attempts to hinder or block free passage through them would cripple military operations.

Adm Locklear declined to confirm how far exactly Chinese military vessels had come. But delegates said that, from what was known about the usual movements of the PLA navy, it was most likely that it had extended its radius of patrols and exercises to near Guam rather than Hawaii or the US mainland.

[Resolute Conservative]

Thank you Bushes and Clintons and all globalist chumps giving away our technology.

[traumer]

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I’m just amazed that nobody has yet started to systematically eliminate the Chinese undersea fleet, all by “accident”.

For example, all it would take would be a heavy concrete block, on the edge of an undersea precipice, to which was attached a very strong “fishing net”.

The only significant sound detected by those who listen for submarines would be the Chinese sub hitting crush depth.

One cubic meter of non-reinforced concrete weighs about 2.5 tons.

However, I’m sure there are a whole bunch of tricks that could be used to quietly scuttle a submarine. I’m not saying the US would do so, but maybe the Vietnamese, Japanese, South Koreans, Filipinos, and all the other people who the Chinese have been aggressive to in recent years.

[central_va]

globalist = gloBULList

[Spruce]

My kid used to ride in an RJ135 in that zone. Always got a nice escort from the PLA’s J-10s. She was at Kadena when the f-22s said hello to the nice ChiCom pilots for the first time during an RJ mission.

[NVDave]

Let’s give a rousing cheer and “well done!” toast to our “free trade uber alles!” ‘conservatives’ who think that sending hundreds upon hundreds of billions of dollars to the communists was a brilliant economic idea.

[Zhang Fei]

The Russians have been doing this stuff for a while. And the Chinese have been doing it off and on for years now. The reason they’re now doing it on a routine basis isn’t because of American patrols - it’s because their budgets finally grew big enough to accommodate routine PLAN patrols far from home. I expect they will be carrying out these patrols around the world in order to keep tabs on a real-time basis on the naval capabilities of nations around the world. As I’ve said elsewhere, China has historically viewed the world as composed of current provinces and future provinces. If these views remain current, such patrols are eminently practical in nature.

[stevie_d_64]

I don’t see what the big deal is...

We know they are there, and exactly where they are...Its not like they could get away with anything anyway...

They’ll just get smoked like a pack of Kool’s when the SHTF...

They prolly won’t even see it coming...