Sovereignty at Sea

摘要

In March 2009 the Chinese conducted bold and dangerous manoeuvres against the USNS Impeccable, a US Navy military survey vessel operating about 120 kilometres from the island of Hainan in the South China Sea. Five Chinese government vessels, including a Navy intelligence-collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries patrol vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel, and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers, surrounded and blocked the transit of the US vessel in international waters. In an odd turn, a Chinese vessel approached within 8 metres of the American ship in an attempt to cut its towed array; when the Impeccable engaged the Chinese vessel with fire hoses to repel it, the Chinese crew stripped to their underwear. The event marks the first test of the Obama administration regarding China's efforts to reshape the legal regime that applies to the littoral zone1 under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.