South China Sea Confrontation, Chinese Netizen Reactions

From Tom.com:

America’s Military Again Claims the Right to Enter China’s Special Economic Zone Waters

The foreign ministers of both China and the United States have met at a conference and agreed to do their best to avoid incidents similar to the “Wuxia” event [the Chinese name for "Impeccable", the American vessel in the South China Sea], but the American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen still says that China’s strategic intentions are not clear. He claims that “Wuxia” [Impeccable] has the right to operate in the South China Sea and that the actions of the mainland fishing boats were “irresponsible.”

The article goes on to say…

Mullen again spoke of China and the United States’ difference of opinion on this matter, saying that the Chinese side believes that the incident occurred in China’s exclusive economic zone, an area within 200 km of the coast, but that America has the right to enter this area. “These aren’t territorial waters. Territorial waters go out to 12 km, and exclusive economic zones go out to 200 km. Any country has the right to enter.”

In fact, China’s Ministry of Defense spokesperson Huang Xueping has previously refuted this argument. He said that the American surveillance vessel had not yet received China’s permission [to enter the waters] and was illegally carrying out surveillance activities in China’s special economic zone, breaking the United Nation’s “Convention on the Law of the Seas”, “The People’s Republic of China Special Economic Zone and Mainland Framework,” and “The People’s Republic of China Foreign Overseas Research Regulations.”

This article appeared in the Oriental Morning Post (东方早报). It was reprinted on Tom.com where it had 452 “supports” from users and 31 “not supports” at the time it was translated.