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| International Law Issues concerning the “ Unauthorized Intrusions”of US Warships into the Adjacent Waters of Chinese Maritime Features in the South China Sea: A Positivist Analysis |
| East China University of Political Science and Law |
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Abstract Since the USS Lassen Incident in October 2015, the US Navy has been dispatching warships to“intrude” into the adjacent waters of Chinese maritime features in the South China Sea on a regular basis.In the name of so-called “Freedom of Navigation Operations” of the US Navy, such “unauthorized intrusions” actually challenged various maritime claims of China in the South China Sea, and seriously violated China‘s territorial sovereignty in the region. With an empirical approach, the paper analyses the statistics of the US warship's“unauthorized intrusions” in recent years and generalizes features of these operations. The paper finds that these “unauthorized intrusions” mainly target at three categories of maritime claims: the prior authorization of warships into the Chinese territorial sea, the straight baselines of the Xisha Islands, and the legal status of some islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands. An analysis of the cause and significance of these operations concludes that in the foreseeable future, the aforementioned maritime claims of China remain main targets of “unauthorized intrusions”. In addition, it is predicted that the focus of the US operations will be switched to the Xisha Islands as well as the Nansha Islands. Accordingly, the Chinese government must act promptly and effectively so as to forestall further intrusions of US warships.
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2019, Vol. 27 
