Not long ago we noted that China is making artificial islands and then using them to claim sea and air rights over "territory."

I have done a few things that involved a degree of discomfort in my prior professional life. But the guy who deliberately gets in a small plane and flies over those artificially made islands that China has been making in the Spratley Sea? That is a different sort of courage. Or insanity. I think this dude has brass balls so big that he could bowl with them.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, a journalist with the BBC, hired a Cessna 210 to fly near these newly created reefs-on-steroids. He got what he paid for. According to his story, the Chinese Navy used a euphemism as their plane approached "to prevent misunderstanding." They apparently said that the "military aircraft" (a four-seat prop plane) was an "intruder" and had to depart immediately. (The audio is available in the BBC story.)

Which leaves us with a set of questions for the Chinese government:

1. Is your military technology so poor that they cannot tell the difference between a military aircraft and a civilian 4-seat, prop-engine sub-200 mile-per hour, tourism plane?

2. Are you deliberately attempting to frighten civilians by implying that you might shoot them down?

3. Does China intend, as these recorded events indicate, to withdraw from the International Conventions on the Laws of the Sea?

For those readers not caught up on their ILOS, here's the salient information:

"Second, since Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in their natural state are under water at high tide and more than 12 nautical miles from other islands, customary international law does not allow any country to claim sovereignty over them. Therefore the island building activities at these reefs cannot be within China's sovereignty. Furthermore, it would be illegal for China or any country to claim sovereignty over the newly created artificial islands at these locations. Third, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) does not allow China to use the artificial islands at Mischief Reef and Subi Reef to claim 12-nautical-mile territorial seas or EEZs beyond: artificial islands are only entitled to a safety zone that can extend to at most 500 metres."

Either China is a part of the UN conventions, or they are not.

At the end of the tape you can heat the incursion of another aircraft just as the BBC civilian-chartered plane is leaving. In a rich baritone a clear voice with an Australian accent pops in; they are a warplane. The man on the radio announces that they intend to cruise through the area in accordance with international treaties. They are greeted with silence.

Wonder why.

I can be reached at R_Bateman_LTC@hotmail.com

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