Originally Posted by
etudiant
Seems to me that the US/UK team is being deliberately obstreperous, prodding the Chinese to put up or shut up.
If the Chinese attack ships engaged in 'innocent passage' though waters close to Chinese operated (but illegal according to international law) bases in the South China Sea, they provoke a conflict they are not yet ready for.
My guess is that this is the point of this deployment, create a precedent that China will also need to respect.
Of course, as we have seen in Hong Kong, China has plenty of very good diplomats able to run rings around precedents and legal constraints.
So we will have a pause, until China builds up some more.
The precedent of complying with UNCLOS then?
The thing about international law is that if you don't "enforce" it (in this case exercise the right of innocent passage), no-one takes any notice of it. Which sets a very dangerous precedent.
And don't forget that the PRC are - in effect - claiming that only they can allow access to the entire South China Sea, which is significantly at odds with UNCLOS as a whole, never mind who owns what piece of the SCS.