{"id":30661,"date":"2023-06-06T23:12:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T23:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/06\/06\/us-chinese-warships-near-miss-hints-at-troubled-diplomatic-waters\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:11:03","slug":"us-chinese-warships-near-miss-hints-at-troubled-diplomatic-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/2023\/06\/06\/us-chinese-warships-near-miss-hints-at-troubled-diplomatic-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Chinese warships\u2019 near miss hints at troubled diplomatic waters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Editor\u2019s note: This <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us-chinese-warships-near-miss-in-taiwan-strait-hints-at-ongoing-troubled-diplomatic-waters-despite-chatter-about-talks-207099\" target=\"_blank\"><i>commentary <\/i><\/a><i>was first published in <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us\" target=\"_blank\"><i>The Conversation<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>An encounter in which a Chinese naval ship <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-china-taiwan-strait-489a45bb6df134fa09443d285b3f8669\" target=\"_blank\"><i>cut across the path of a U.S. destroyer<\/i><\/a><i> in the Taiwan Strait on June 3, 2023, has <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/06\/04\/asia\/china-defense-minister-shangri-la-speech-intl-hnk\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"><i>both Beijing<\/i><\/a><i> <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-05-30\/us-accuses-china-of-aggressive-encounter-over-south-china-sea#xj4y7vzkg\" target=\"_blank\"><i>and Washington<\/i><\/a><i> pointing fingers at each other.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>It was the second near miss in the space of just a few weeks; in late May a Chinese plane <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/5\/31\/provocative-dangerous-china-blames-us-for-air-confrontation\" target=\"_blank\"><i>crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft<\/i><\/a><i> above the South China Sea.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Meredith Oyen, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/history.umbc.edu\/facultystaff\/full-time\/meredith-oyen\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>an expert on China-U.S. relations<\/i><\/a><i> at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, helps explain the context of the recent encounters and how they fit within growing tensions between the two countries.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What do we know about the Taiwan Strait incident?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It came as the U.S. and Canada were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us-canadian-navies-stage-rare-joint-mission-through-taiwan-strait-2023-06-03\/\" target=\"_blank\">conducting a joint transit<\/a> of the Taiwan Strait \u2014 a body of water that separates the island of Taiwan from mainland China. Washington does these transits fairly regularly, but not usually with another country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal traveled up the channel, a Chinese warship passed and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/u-s-military-releases-video-of-near-collision-between-chinese-u-s-warships-in-taiwan-strait\" target=\"_blank\">veered across the U.S. vessel\u2019s path at a pretty close range<\/a>, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. As a result, the USS Chung-Hoon had to reduce its speed to avoid a collision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/military\/article\/3223054\/us-military-slams-chinese-warships-unsafe-and-unprofessional-manoeuvres-taiwan-strait\" target=\"_blank\">characterized the incident as an \u201cunsafe\u201d maneuver<\/a> on behalf of the Chinese and protested that it took place in international waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The perspective from Beijing is that the U.S. and Canada were \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us-canadian-navies-stage-rare-joint-mission-through-taiwan-strait-2023-06-03\/\" target=\"_blank\">deliberately provoking risk<\/a>\u201d by sailing a warship through Chinese waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who is right? Did it take place in international or Chinese waters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/depts\/los\/convention_agreements\/texts\/unclos\/part2.htm\" target=\"_blank\">United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea<\/a> stipulates that a country\u2019s \u201cterritorial waters\u201d extend 12 nautical miles off its coast \u2013 anything above or on the sea in that zone is considered part of the country\u2019s territory. After that, there is a further 12-mile \u201ccontiguous zone,\u201d over which a coastal state has rights to prevent infringement of the country\u2019s \u201ccustoms, fiscal, immigration or sanitary\u201d laws, according to the UN treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Complicating matters, Beijing \u2014 a signatory to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, unlike the U.S. \u2014 claims the island of Taiwan as part of China. Under the U.N. convention\u2019s stipulations, this would also mean Beijing can claim the 12 miles of territorial waters off Taiwan\u2019s coast, as well as a 12-mile contiguous zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But even at its narrowest point, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jillgoldenziel\/2022\/06\/28\/china-claims-to-own-the-taiwan-strait-thats-illegal\/?sh=6cc6f59d9ba2\" target=\"_blank\">Taiwan Strait is around 86 miles wide<\/a>. So even accepting Beijing\u2019s territorial claim, there would, under U.N. law, be a channel that falls outside its territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonetheless, Beijing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiss.org\/online-analysis\/online-analysis\/2022\/07\/narrowing-the-differences-between-china-and-the-us-over-the-taiwan-strait\/\" target=\"_blank\">claims sovereignty of the entirety of the waters<\/a> between Taiwan and China under its exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite not signing the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the U.S. abides by the 12-mile standard and views a large chunk of the strait as international waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How common are these \u2018near misses\u2019?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States has regularly sailed vessels through the Taiwan Strait for decades. At times of tension \u2014 notably <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1953-1960\/taiwan-strait-crises\" target=\"_blank\">during the Korean War and Taiwan Straits crises of 1954-55, 1958 and 1962<\/a> \u2014 the U.S. has deployed destroyers in the channel as a deliberate show of military strength and support for Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This continued after the U.S. normalized relations with China in 1978 until today, with few incidents that caused the level of tit-for-tat recriminations such as in the latest case. But there have been \u201cnear misses\u201d in the sky, noticeably the <a href=\"http:\/\/aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/5\/31\/provocative-dangerous-china-blames-us-for-air-confrontation\" target=\"_blank\">recent airplane-to-airplane encounter<\/a> that preceded this incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we have increasingly seen, though, is Chinese officials protest these Taiwan Strait transits by the U.S. And the number of protests by China has increased in recent years, as <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/biden-again-indicates-that-us-will-defend-taiwan-militarily-does-this-constitute-a-change-in-policy-190946\" target=\"_blank\">tension over Taiwan has increased<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does this incident fit growing maritime tension in the region?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The past few years have seen a deterioration in U.S.-China relations. There have been <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/2021\/08\/11\/why-u.s.-and-chinese-militaries-aren-t-talking-much-anymore-pub-85123\" target=\"_blank\">no direct, high-level military talks between the two countries since 2019<\/a>. Meanwhile, relations have further soured on other topics, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/2021\/09\/16\/u.s.-china-trade-war-has-become-cold-war-pub-85352\" target=\"_blank\">ongoing trade war<\/a>, the issue of Taiwan and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/03\/18\/coronavirus-china-world-power\/\">allegations relating to the spread<\/a> of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At times of better relations between Beijing and Washington, military transits such as the one in the Taiwan Strait might have gone largely unremarked upon. But amid such tensions, any incident is elevated to the level of uniquely bad provocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The broader context is that the U.S. regularly holds military drills and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/3370607\/dod-releases-fiscal-year-2022-freedom-of-navigation-report\/#:%7E:text=Upholding%20freedom%20of%20navigation%20as,operate%20wherever%20international%20law%20allows.\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cfreedom of navigation\u201d operations<\/a> in the South China Sea. These activities are used by the U.S. Department of Defense to demonstrate that the U.S. has a right to sail in waters it views as international, even if they are claimed by nation states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concern is that with tensions as they are \u2014 and with no official direct line of dialogue \u2014 a near miss during such a drill, or, worse still, an actual collision, could escalate beyond control, leading to military conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Any significance over why this happened now?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The near miss came at a curious time \u2014 while top diplomats and defense chiefs from both the U.S. and China were attending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iiss.org\/events\/shangri-la-dialogue\/shangri-la-dialogue-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Shangri-La Dialogue<\/a> in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At that security summit, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/06\/02\/austin-china-military-handshake-00099875\" target=\"_blank\">shook the hand<\/a> of his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu. But they didn\u2019t hold a side meeting \u2014 as some observers had hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/06\/02\/asia\/austin-shangri-law-dialogue-speech-taiwan-intl-hnk\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">underscored the importance of the Taiwan Strait<\/a> to Washington: \u201cThe whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The security of commercial shipping lanes and global supply chains depends on it. And so does freedom of navigation worldwide. Make no mistake: conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2023\/05\/10\/deconfliction-us-china-talk-about-talking\/\" target=\"_blank\">has suggested<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/6\/3\/us-says-talks-with-china-key-to-a-prevent-crisis-or-conflict\" target=\"_blank\">that it wants to resume official talks<\/a> with Beijing. Incidents such as that in the Taiwan Strait underscore the potential need for such discussions, if only to avoid encounters escalating into something more serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Have an opinion?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This article is an Op-Ed and as such, the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please <\/i><a href=\"mailto:opinions@militarytimes.com\"><i>email us<\/i><\/a><i>. Want more perspectives like this sent straight to you? <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/link.militarytimes.com\/join\/5b9\/sign-up-opinion\"><i>Subscribe to get our Commentary &amp; Opinion newsletter<\/i><\/a><i> once a week.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/207099\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What was behind the latest encounter between U.S. and Chinese military vessels in contested waters?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":81794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":9,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[31,9],"tags":[8477,8471,8472],"coauthors":[6979],"class_list":["post-30661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-federal-oversight","tag-china","tag-commentary","tag-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QISYYTY24BCUFA3CWDWOHBGQDY","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/2023\/06\/06\/us-chinese-warships-near-miss-hints-at-troubled-diplomatic-waters\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US, Chinese warships\u2019 near miss hints at troubled diplomatic waters - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What was behind the latest encounter between U.S. and Chinese military vessels in contested waters?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US, Chinese warships\u2019 near miss hints at troubled diplomatic waters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What was behind the latest encounter between U.S. and Chinese military vessels in contested waters?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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