April 29, 2010A fleet of 10 Chinese vessels including two submarines flying the Chinese national flag passed through the Miyako Channel situated between Okinawa's main island and Miyako Island on April 10 -- an act Japanese news organizations characterized as intimidation.
"The submarines were cruising on the surface and flying red Chinese national flags as if to show them off. It is extremely rare for submarines to navigate on the surface of the high seas," a Mainichi Shimbun article on April 18 reads. "China displayed its military capability to Japan in an area close to its territorial waters. Japan is now changing its restrained stance toward China."
The fleet, based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, consists of eight surface vessels -- destroyers and supply ships -- and two submarines, and was formed to undertake blue water missions.
The fleet passed through the Miyako Channel into the Pacific Ocean and continued on a straight course to the waters near Okinotorishima Island, where they conducted exercises before sailing back to China via the same route.
If you traced the fleet's wake on Google Earth, you could easily understand the purpose of the exercise. Ningbo, the Miyako Channel and Okinotorishima Island are all along a straight line. If the line is extended, it reaches Guam, home to large U.S. bases. The fleet headed in the direction of Guam by the shortest possible course.
The Miyako Channel is in Japan's exclusive economic zone. However, its central part is in international waters where vessels of any country can pass freely. All vessels passing near a given country's territorial waters are guaranteed the so-called "right of innocent passage" -- or the right to pass the waters freely as long as they cause no damage to other vessels or to the country. However, there are rules that regulate submarines in such waters. Article 20 of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that "in the territorial sea, submarines and other underwater vehicles are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag."
Therefore, the Chinese submarines sailed on the surface of the Miyako Channel and flew their national flag as a sign of innocent passage. "The coastal state shall not hamper the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea," Article 24 of the convention states.
There are four routes through which Chinese Navy vessels can sail from China to the Pacific Ocean -- including the Osumi Strait and the Miyako Channel, according to a Chinese paper. Of them, the Miyako Channel is the easiest to pass.
In March, another Chinese Navy flotilla based in Qindao, Shandong province, passed through the Miyako Channel and advanced southward along the east coast of Taiwan. It then went into the South China Sea and came close to the Strait of Malacca.
The Miyako Channel will likely serve as the gate to the open ocean for ships of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese fleet wanted to show off its national flag obviously not to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, but to U.S. forces in the Pacific Ocean.
It is easy to answer the question as to why a Chinese fleet sailed toward Guam and another sailed off the east coast of Taiwan. (By Hidetoshi Kaneko, Expert Senior Writer)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 29, 2010
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