Before EP-3, China turned away
U.S. research ship in international waters
By Mark Oliva, Okinawa
bureau
U.S. Navy officials say a U.S. oceanographic research vessel was
turned away by China in international waters more than a week before the Navy EP-3E
reconnaissance plane was crippled over the South China Sea.
“On March 23, 2001, USNS Bowditch was gathering hydrographic
acoustic performance data in international waters around the Yellow Sea,” said Dub
Allen, spokesman for Military Sealift Command, Far East. “USNS Bowditch was
approached by a PRC warship in the PRC Exclusive Economic Zone and was requested to alter
course and exit the EEZ.
“USNS Bowditch altered course and exited the PRC EEZ.”
The Bowditch was apparently outside Chinese territorial waters, an
internationally recognized 20-mile offshore boundary. But the Bowditch was operating in
the Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone, a boundary extending 200 miles that gives coastal
nations exclusive rights for economic and resource exploitation, such as oil drilling.
The Bowditch is an unarmed research vessel with 25 civilian personnel
and can carry as many as 30 scientific researchers, according to the Navy’s Vessel
Register.
But free movement of ship traffic is not restricted in any
nation’s economic zone. Laws of the highs seas prevail in those areas. No ships,
including warships or research vessels, are subject to another nation’s laws.
“Since Japan is so close to China, it is not unusual to be
operating near PRC, or Korea or any other territorial seas,” said Navy Cmdr. Matt
Brown, spokesman for the Navy’s 7th Fleet. “U.S. naval units at sea make contact
with vessels of all maritime nations including Japan and China. It is extremely unusual to
not see ships from other countries at sea, especially in an area with as much shipping as
the Western Pacific.”
On March 23, the Bowditch was within the economic Chinese Economic
Exclusive Zone waters. It was outside Chinese territorial waters when it was approached by
the Chinese warship and was forced to turn back on its planned course. It returned to
Sasebo Naval Base.
The move by the Chinese to turn back the U.S. research ship
wasn’t unexpected, according to Allen.
“MSC ships operating in the Western Pacific are always subject
to being tracked or monitored,” Allen added.
Ship traffic in the first 11 days of May was surprisingly high,
including visits by three separate nuclear attack submarines based in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii. The remainder of the ship traffic in and out of Sasebo included five different
Military Sealift Command ships, including the Bowditch, two Aegis cruisers and one
frigate. Most ships based at Sasebo are deployed to exercises in the Philippines,
Australia and Thailand.
Navy officials said the three nuclear attack submarines, the USS Los
Angeles, USS Chicago and USS Sante Fe, made routine port calls, taking on supplies and
personnel. They refused to elaborate, citing security concerns.
“Surface ships and submarines of the U.S. Navy operate
throughout the Western Pacific, and many of them make use of the two main port facilities
in Japan from which U.S. ships routinely operate, notably Yokosuka and Sasebo,” Brown
said.
All three submarines stopped at Sasebo within days of each other,
although major naval and ship-to-shore exercises were being waged hundreds of miles south
of Sasebo.
The remainder of ship traffic in early May were Military Sealift
Command ships, which Allen said were involved in a Joint Logistics Over the Shore exercise
in Korea.
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