ET

Chinese ship challenges Australian navy flotilla

By David Rennie in Beijing and Geoffrey Lee Martin in Sydney

A CHINESE warship challenged an Australian naval flotilla for "intruding" even though it was in international sea lanes at the time, it emerged yesterday.

A spokesman for the Australian Department of Defence said the incident, which happened "earlier this month", involved at least one frigate whose captain rejected the Chinese challenge and sailed on. He said: "The Australian naval vessels were challenged by a Chinese naval vessel which claimed that the Australians were intruding on Chinese waters.

"At all times the Australian ships were steaming in international waters and abiding by international rights under the 1982 Laws of the Sea Convention and so the captain insisted on proceeding." Precise details of the ships and locations were "classified information", he said.

The incident occurred just days after a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US spy plane over the South China Sea, 65 miles from the southern island of Hainan on April 1, sparking a stand-off over the fate of the American crew.

Immediately after the collision, China launched a propaganda campaign against foreign military activity within the 200-mile wide "economic exclusion zone". Nations have wide-ranging economic rights over the marine resources in such zones, but they are not sovereign territory.

Chinese state media accused the American military of abusing international rules on "freedom of overflight". China insisted that under these rules foreign powers were obliged to "take account of the rights, laws, and regulations of maritime states" when inside 200-mile limits.

Local coverage left many Chinese citizens with the impression that the collision took place in Chinese airspace. The Taiwan Straits - which are only 70 miles wide in places - contain some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and some of the most sensitive.

If China steps up aggressive "interceptions" in international sea lanes on the mainland side of the straits, America and its allies can be expected to resist strongly. Under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, all vessels, including warships, enjoy the right of "innocent passage", even through territorial waters.

Innocent sailings must be continuous and "expeditious", and must not involve threats or use of force, the use or testing of weapons, intelligence gathering, or the launching or recovery of any aircraft or military device. Submarines should surface and show their flag.

China has long argued that warships should request permission before steaming through its territorial waters, but America has never accepted this view.

In 1996, President Clinton sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the seas off Taiwan in a show of force after China staged war games to scare voters during Taiwan's first free elections.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001

Answers

Boy they are getting edgy, huh? Wonder what they are up to that they are so, so touchy, about things like this....

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2001