The Chinese military has started operating within the US’s exclusive economic zone, a move that could transform the dynamic between the dominant Pacific naval power and its main challenger.
Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of US forces in the Pacific, on Sunday confirmed the revelation from a Chinese military delegate at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defence forum in Singapore, that the People’s Liberation Army navy had started “reciprocating” the US navy’s habit of sending ships and aircraft into the 200-nautical-mile zone off China’s coast.
Under international law, each country has the exclusive right to the economic resources inside a 200-nautical-mile zone off its coast, a zone different from coastal states’ 12-mile national waters.