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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada hold joint naval drills
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Rodney
South China Sea should be closed off to all military vessels that don’t belong to countries in the area. Commercial vessels can be safeguarded by bordering navies. Unless western hawks are pushing for war.
theFu
Rodney, we've been over this 500 times. There's an international law which allows ships, including warships, from different countries to sail in international waters. This works for everyone's benefit, including China, Russia, Europe, Japan, and every other country with ships.
The Black Sea can only be reached through Turkey's Bosphorus Strait. Russia and Ukraine's Black sea fleet use this to enter the Aegean sea, then the Mediterranean Sea on the way to the Atlantic or a canal to head south.
Chinese ships can be seen all over the world thanks to this international law. Sometimes, they even sail within the 12 mile limit due to local conditions. Chinese warships have been in US territorial waters multiple times - within the 12nm limit. They did so using some special situation rules, which was completely fine.
Making a big deal over perfectly legal transits, just shows infantile behavior from the CCP. Perhaps they should give the complaining people a nice, friendly, Pooh Bear doll? That will make them feel better.
Desert Tortoise
Shallows or reefs that are submerged at mean high tide are not considered islands and do not qualify for territorial status under international law. The remain forever international waters. Likewise man made objects in the sea do not have a territorial sea or EEZ around them nor do they possesses territorial airspace above them. The owner of the man made object can claim sovereignty over the man made object itself but nothing else. The airspace above remain international airspace and the seas around that man made object remain open to any user.
China builds man made islands on reefs that are submerged at mean high tide. As such they are never going to have a territorial sea or EEZ around them under international law. Likewise anyone is free to fly over them. China has no legal right to assert any territorial sovereignty on man made objects except the object itself. What that means is that any nation's ship can legally sail as close to those islands as is safe and anyone my fly over them without restriction. Any attempt by China to enforce a territorial claim by military means would be an act of war.
Desert Tortoise
The Chinese and Russian navies conducted a joint exercise in international waters off Alaska this past fall and you didn't hear any complaints from the US. The US sent a High Endurance Cutter to tag along and flew Coast Guard C-130s over the exercise to keep tabs on them. There was no harassment nor did anyone in Washington complain about "provocations". Legions of fanbois didn't flood the internet with calls for the Russians and Chinese to go home to their own waters. The only reason I knew about it was the Russians and Chinese declared an exclusion zone for the exercise and that was mentioned in some maritime blogs. Don't go fishing near the exercise, you might get shot by mistake.