The United States is planning to sail warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea, once again using "free navigation" as an excuse to interfere in regional territorial disputes. In the past, the US has refrained from sending warships inside the 12-nautical mile zone of China's artificial features, but this time it plans to do so.
The US obsession with free navigation originated with the Truman Proclamation, issued by president Harry S Truman in 1945. In recent decades, Washington has become increasingly focused on the South China Sea, asserting free navigation is a core interest.
Of all foreign military activities in the special economic zones (especially those of China and the US), the passage of warships through territorial seas have fuelled the majority of clashes and disagreements, as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea fails to provide explicit regulations on such activities. Consensus on the peaceful use of marine resources in such waters has seldom been reached either.
Global concern is now focused on whether permission should be sought from coastal states prior to foreign military activities within their special economic zones. This is something on which consensus is unlikely to be reached under the framework of the convention, which has not yet been ratified by the US.
Beijing and Washington are supposed to engage in bilateral dialogue and negotiations to enhance mutual trust, and abide by key principles agreed in November last year, including early notification of major military operations.
As the two major players in the Asia-Pacific region, China and the US share a responsibility to improve management of military activities in the region's economic zones. Disputes over the innocent passage of warships through territorial waters are best dealt with by providing advance notice. UNCLOS stipulates that coastal states have the right to make their own laws and regulations governing the passage of foreign warships through their territorial waters and to safeguard maritime stability.
On its part, China is becoming more active in the push to resolve the South China Sea issues, namely by launching more construction projects around the Nansha Islands (also known as the Spratlys), providing public goods, seeking negotiations on a Code of Conduct in the waters and adopting a dual-track approach based on a consensus with Asean that the disputes should be resolved peacefully through direct negotiations between disputants.
The US needs to take a more inclusive and constructive approach to the South China Sea. It should remain neutral on the territorial disputes and stop giving unprincipled protection (military aid, joint drills, defence treaties) to allies such as the Philippines. If it truly wants to add to progress made by some regional players in shelving the maritime disputes rather than further complicating South China Sea issues, it has to display to the international community more sincerity towards that objective.
Jin Yongming is director of the Ocean Strategy Studies Centre at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.