China Measures Reaction in South China Sea

I think this is the right move. This is a smart way to avoid creating an international incident with a US Navy warship and the PLA Navy. IHT has the story.

China has deployed a large fisheries patrol boat to a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea, a state newspaper said Sunday, a week after a U.S. Navy vessel and Chinese ships had a confrontation in those waters.

The Beijing News said the vessel, China Yuzheng 311, would reach the Paracel Islands on Sunday to patrol China's exclusive economic zone and strengthen fishery administration in the South China Sea.

The ship, a converted Chinese naval rescue vessel, was deployed Tuesday from Guangzhou in southern China, it said. Calls to China's Fisheries Administration rang unanswered Sunday.

U.S. defense officials have accused Chinese vessels of harassing an unarmed U.S. Navy sub-hunting ship last Sunday. China said the ship was operating illegally in its exclusive economic zone. Beijing views almost the entire South China Sea as its territory.

I see this as very smart. China knows the Obama administration won't remove the ship, and China isn't going to find friends who want to take the same approach to maritime law that China has, a good example would be how the UAE would beat Iran over the head with the Chinese interpretation of EEZ and ownership rights for territories in the Persian Gulf. Ultimately China's position is well known to be out of step with international law on the issue, but they can keep it within the boundries of a EEZ issue by responding and observering with their fishery administration.

There has been speculation that China reacted strongly to the Impeccable because the Impeccable was tracking one of the new PLA Navy nuclear submarines out of Sanya. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming US-China military meet and greet goes. Depending upon the results of that meeting, it is possible we may end up with confirmation what the US was doing, and why China decided to react so strongly.