International Law

Somebody Call Tom Clancy

By Stan

Is any of this starting to sound 1980s-ish?

China Says U.S. Navy Ship Was Breaking the Law

U.S. Says China ‘Harassed’ Navy Ship

Here are the basics, if anyone cares:

China has accused a U.S. Navy mapping ship of conducting illegal activity inside China’s exclusive economic zone, a Hong Kong television station reported Monday — Beijing’s first response to a new crisis between the two militaries.

The U.S. Defense Department says Chinese ships surrounded and harassed the Navy vessel in international waters Sunday, at one point coming within 25 feet (8 meters) of the American boat and strewing debris in its path.

However, Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television cited an unidentified diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in Washington as saying that Beijing considered the ship to be in violation of Chinese and international law and had sent ships to interdict it.

"This official emphasized that China cannot accept Washington’s groundless accusations (and) the Chinese side demands America cease such illegal surveying activities and engage in more matters conducive to the stable development of China-U.S. relations," Phoenix reported.

Apparently this also included the U.S. ship hosing down one or more of the Chinese ships with water, and several of the Chinese sailors supposedly stripped down and mooned the U.S ships.

I know this is being called an international military incident in the press, but with the usual silly comments being made by the two governments and the lack of anything more serious than near misses and bare asses, I’m finding this all rather amusing.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).