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The Chinese military has started operating within the US’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 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.
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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 is known about the usual movements of the People’s Liberation Army 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.
The disagreement between Beijing and Washington over the “rules of the road” inside the EEZ has triggered two incidents that have severely shaken bilateral relations in the past.
more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/02ce257e-cb4a-11e2-8ff3-00144feab7de.html#axzz2V2I3W3Rd