South China Sea: No Win-Win for China and US ( Source- The Diplomat / Authors- Bernard Fook Weng Loo and Koh Swee Lean Collin)
Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy Source- The Diplomat Author- Bernard Fook Weng Loo and Koh Swee Lean Collin In October 2015, the U.S. Navy announced that it was preparing to send a surface combatant to sail within 12 nautical miles – what the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) recognizes as the territorial waters of littoral states – of the artificial islands that China has been constructing in the South China Sea. On October 27, the USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, patrolled within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, in the Spratly Islands. As Ashton Carter, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, said, “Make no mistake, the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do around the world, and the South China Sea will not be an exception.” The move has potentially serious consequences for the security and stability of the South China Sea and Southeast Asia, especially