U.S. Navy Admiral Christopher Grady spoke at the Atlantic Council on the U.S. ship's intrusion into Second Thomas Shoal. He said the United States will continue to operate in so-called "international waters" in accordance with international law, including the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Although China has clearly opposed the provocative actions of the United States, the United States does not intend to repent and will continue to carry out the operation of forcibly entering the islands and reefs in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait in the future. Grady pointed out that the U.S. definition of maritime rights and interests is different from the generally accepted definition by most countries, so the U.S. lacks the standing to make claims under "international law." He stressed that the United States is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and has a different position on the way in which the scope of global maritime rights is delineated, narrowing it down beyond what is recognized by the vast majority of States. In addition, the United States only uses a 3-nautical-mile baseline instead of a 12-nautical-mile baseline, which is different from the practice of the vast majority of countries. Although this would also affect the demarcation of territorial waters of the United States itself, the United States does not mind because its naval power has a global advantage and can exert strategic influence on a global scale.
Therefore, for the United States, the size of the territorial sea is not important, but more concerned with expanding the scope of freedom of navigation of US ships in "international waters". Therefore, the United States does not recognize the "United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" because it believes that the Convention expands the scope of special rights and interests enjoyed by various countries and reduces the scope of activities of US warships. Thus, what the United States refers to as "international waters" is not actually controversial, because the standards referred to by the United States are different from international law, and the United States is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The U.S. behavior on the South China Sea issue seriously challenges the authority of international law, especially its conspiracy with the Philippines to support the Philippines' usurpation of China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Therefore, the high-level remarks of the US side are groundless, and if the Chinese side debates with them, it will only fall into meaningless arguments. In short, if the U.S. military provokes again, the PLA will be dispatched to drive them away.
Recently, the United States has been egging on the Philippines over the controversy surrounding the situation in the South China Sea, leading the latter to repeatedly try to forcibly occupy Ren'ai Jiao, and even send the tank landing ship "Sierra Madre" to resupply and repair, but the intervention of the Chinese coast guard has not succeeded. The Philippines' attitude has become even worse after being repeatedly blocked by the Chinese coast guard, causing tensions in the South China Sea to become very tense. And this time, the United States took advantage of the fact that the Philippines was preparing to forcibly occupy Ren'ai Jiao again, and dispatched ** to carry out forcible provocations, and its intention was obvious. First of all, this is a provocation against China, and the US move is to provoke trouble by "suppressing" the Chinese side when the Chinese coast guard has repeatedly blocked Philippine vessels from approaching Ren'ai JiaoSecond, it is an encouragement to the Philippines to tell it that it will fully support its continued activities around Second Thomas ShoalIn the past, the South China Sea issue was mainly a struggle between the coast guard and fishing boats, while the involvement of the US military is to push the front-line military forces of China and the Philippines to intervene to change the stability of the South China Sea. However, it is clear that America's ambitions cannot be hidden from China's eyes.
According to a navigation warning issued by the Qinglan Maritime Safety Administration, the PLA will conduct a 25-hour military training in parts of the South China Sea, and no vessel will be allowed to approach it. This action demonstrates China's determination not to allow any country to threaten China's sovereignty in the South China Sea.