The rights and wrongs of US overflights in the South China Sea

Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific

The rights and wrongs of US overflights in the South China Sea

26 May 2015 | http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/05/26/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-us-overflights-in-the-south-china-sea/ Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International
Over the past six years, unilateral and escalatory actions by claimants to territories in the South China Sea have exacerbated tensions in the region.
China has not been the precipitator of the tensions in these waters — whether it be in initiating resource exploration activities in disputed areas, introducing military vessels to enforce jurisdictional claims, or conducting land reclamation work in the adjoining waters. In each instance, other claimants were the first to roil the waters.
But China’s response to actions by other claimants has been heavy-handed, disproportionate to the provocation at hand and, at times, designed to destabilise an already-delicate situation. That said, none of the actions by claimants, China included, has violated international law — even if some of the actions have operated in grey areas where definitive rules are lacking (such as in respect of the status of maritime historic rights). The same cannot be said about recently-publicised actions by the US Navy in these contested waters.