Sea floor survey mission needs Beijing’s permission, say experts - but it hasn’t
Nick Gentle and Greg Torode 22 March 2009
A US survey vessel is risking another confrontation in the waters around China when it arrives in the region next week - less than a month after a standoff near Hainan Island between Chinese patrol vessels and a US Navy surveillance ship.
Sections of its planned sea-floor geological survey will take place well inside China’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
Maritime law experts say the ship’s visit could be even more provocative than the USNS Impeccable’s mission that led to the recent standoff. The fallout from that continues, with the Pentagon yesterday releasing video, shot from the US vessel, of Chinese ships closing in.
At the same time, green groups are worried that the survey method - which involves firing sonic air guns underwater - could harm already endangered populations of marine mammals in the region.
Sam Bateman, a Singapore-based maritime security analyst, said the mission could prove more controversial even than military activity.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provided sovereign immunity for naval vessels, yet made it quite clear permission from China would be needed for civilian marine research in its economic zone, he said.
“I’m amazed ... it does seem potentially provocative,” said Dr Bateman, a senior fellow of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“When you look at the convention, this kind of mission is out of bounds unless the country claiming the zone has granted permission. If a civilian vessel was found to be unambiguously within China’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), it would risk arrest, detention and legal action.”
The convention allows a nation to claim a 12-nautical mile territorial zone, and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone beyond that. The US has yet to ratify the convention.
Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst with the New York-based Natural Resources Defence Council, said operating in China’s waters without permission could be problematic for the ship.
“There’s no question that Chinese law protecting the marine environment would apply ... within China’s EEZ, and China would have certain rights under international convention to enforce its law,” Mr. Jasny said.
The EEZ does not confer sovereignty, but rights over mineral reserves, fish and marine research. Foreign civilian and military vessels have rights of passage.
The operators of the research ship, the Marcus G. Langseth, from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, have permission to conduct a seismic survey of the ocean floor from the governments of Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, but not from Beijing.
An application to conduct the Taiwan Integrated Geodynamics Research survey gazetted in the US suggested the Langseth would operate to within 10km of the mainland coast. However, an observatory spokeswoman said its plans had been revised and the ship would go no closer than 85km in the Taiwan Strait and 200km in the South China Sea.
She said the alterations had been made for environmental reasons.
“We are not mapping the seabed as much as looking beneath the sea floor - trying to understand the geologic processes that cause deep earthquakes. This has practical value for the Taiwanese and Chinese, who face risk from quakes and tsunami in an earthquake-prone region.”
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US ship risks new China flashpoint
Sea floor survey mission needs Beijing’s permission, say experts - but it hasn’t
Nick Gentle and Greg Torode
22 March 2009
A US survey vessel is risking another confrontation in the waters around China when it arrives in the region next week - less than a month after a standoff near Hainan Island between Chinese patrol vessels and a US Navy surveillance ship.
Sections of its planned sea-floor geological survey will take place well inside China’s 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
Maritime law experts say the ship’s visit could be even more provocative than the USNS Impeccable’s mission that led to the recent standoff. The fallout from that continues, with the Pentagon yesterday releasing video, shot from the US vessel, of Chinese ships closing in.
At the same time, green groups are worried that the survey method - which involves firing sonic air guns underwater - could harm already endangered populations of marine mammals in the region.
Sam Bateman, a Singapore-based maritime security analyst, said the mission could prove more controversial even than military activity.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provided sovereign immunity for naval vessels, yet made it quite clear permission from China would be needed for civilian marine research in its economic zone, he said.
“I’m amazed ... it does seem potentially provocative,” said Dr Bateman, a senior fellow of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“When you look at the convention, this kind of mission is out of bounds unless the country claiming the zone has granted permission. If a civilian vessel was found to be unambiguously within China’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), it would risk arrest, detention and legal action.”
The convention allows a nation to claim a 12-nautical mile territorial zone, and a 200-mile exclusive economic zone beyond that. The US has yet to ratify the convention.
Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst with the New York-based Natural Resources Defence Council, said operating in China’s waters without permission could be problematic for the ship.
“There’s no question that Chinese law protecting the marine environment would apply ... within China’s EEZ, and China would have certain rights under international convention to enforce its law,” Mr. Jasny said.
The EEZ does not confer sovereignty, but rights over mineral reserves, fish and marine research. Foreign civilian and military vessels have rights of passage.
The operators of the research ship, the Marcus G. Langseth, from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, have permission to conduct a seismic survey of the ocean floor from the governments of Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan, but not from Beijing.
An application to conduct the Taiwan Integrated Geodynamics Research survey gazetted in the US suggested the Langseth would operate to within 10km of the mainland coast. However, an observatory spokeswoman said its plans had been revised and the ship would go no closer than 85km in the Taiwan Strait and 200km in the South China Sea.
She said the alterations had been made for environmental reasons.
“We are not mapping the seabed as much as looking beneath the sea floor - trying to understand the geologic processes that cause deep earthquakes. This has practical value for the Taiwanese and Chinese, who face risk from quakes and tsunami in an earthquake-prone region.”
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