USNS Impeccable: Difference between revisions

The United States maintains that the Convention, which it has signed, but not yet ratified, authorizes activities such as those undertaken by ''Impeccable''.<ref name="China hits out at US on navy row">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7934138.stm China hits out at US on navy row] [[BBC News]] 10 March 2009</ref><ref name="jane">[http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/US-And-China-Face-Off-In-South-China-Sea-USNS-Impeccable-And-Chinese-Boats/Article/200903215238151?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15238151_US_And_China_Face-Off_In_South_China_Sea%2C_USNS_Impeccable_And_Chinese_Boats US And China Face-Off On The High Seas], [[Sky News]], 9 March 2009</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7933171.stm Chinese ships 'harass' US vessel], [[BBC News]], 9 March 2009</ref> Several legal experts also state that there is no legal foundation for China's claim that it can prevent foreign naval vessels from operating within its Exclusive Economic Zone. For example, Raul Pedrozo, writing in the ''Chinese Journal of International Law'', concludes that "all nations may legitimately engage in military activities in foreign exclusive economic zones, without prior notice to, or consent of, the coastal State concerned."<ref>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/63656.html</ref><ref>http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1565306</ref> On the contrary, Chinese officials assert that the operations are illegal. Rear Admiral [[Wang Dengping]], political commissar of the Armament Department of Navy of the [[Chinese People's Liberation ArmyNavy]], condemned the ''Impeccable's'' activities, stating that "Innocent passage by naval vessels from other countries in the [[Territorial waters]] in the [[Special Economic Zone]] is acceptable, but not allowed otherwise"<ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/10/content_10985038.htm], [[Xinhua]], 10 March 2009</ref> under the Convention. Chinese actions were further defended by Professor Ji Guoxing of [[Shanghai Jiao Tong University]] who, writing in ''China Security'', maintained that under the Convention, navigation rights in coastal countries' exclusive economic zones are "subject to the resource-related and environment-related laws and regulations of the coastal state," and China could exclude the ''Impeccable'' on this basis. Ji further asserted that the Convention's prohibition against gathering military intelligence in another country's territorial waters should be interpreted to also prohibit intelligence gathering in coastal countries' exclusive economic zones.<ref>http://www.chinasecurity.us/pdfs/jiguoxing.pdf</ref>