The US extended its claims on the ocean floor by an area twice the size of California, securing rights to potentially resource-rich seabeds at a time when Washington is ramping up efforts to safeguard supplies of minerals key to future technologies.
China’s claims are way more egregious. I’m not defending America’s claims but they’re at least plausibly based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. They might not be winning legal arguments but they’re plausible enough to be legal arguments.
Some of China’s claims in the South China Sea are so far from the UNCLOS that I’m surprised Rudy Giuliani isn’t involved. Like, they sometimes claim the same rights as archipelago nations. China, you may have noticed, is not shaped like the Seychelles.
They also claim some islands based on arguments like “A Chinese guy saw that island first.” But that isn’t a thing. With all due respect to Zheng He (possibly the greatest mariner of all time), the UNCLOS isn’t based on who called dibs.
Most of this claim is perfectly reasonable. China is claiming international waters.
I do agree though that the claim around Alaska is way too large – it looks a lot more like China’s claim in the South China Sea. Take some small islands and claim the whole sea as yours.
Except those small islands near Alaska are natural, and have always been there, (On a human timescale, anyways) and were part of the original Alaska purchase. The one China uses to claim a whole sea was completely artificial, and built for the sole purpose of claiming new areas.
Isn’t this the kind of shit that everybody gets mad at China for doing? Seems a bit hypocritical.
China’s claims are way more egregious. I’m not defending America’s claims but they’re at least plausibly based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. They might not be winning legal arguments but they’re plausible enough to be legal arguments.
Some of China’s claims in the South China Sea are so far from the UNCLOS that I’m surprised Rudy Giuliani isn’t involved. Like, they sometimes claim the same rights as archipelago nations. China, you may have noticed, is not shaped like the Seychelles.
They also claim some islands based on arguments like “A Chinese guy saw that island first.” But that isn’t a thing. With all due respect to Zheng He (possibly the greatest mariner of all time), the UNCLOS isn’t based on who called dibs.
Everyone gets mad at China for creating a new artificial island in order to claim a huge swath of previously international waters.
Literally no. If it seems hypocritical it’s because you don’t actually understand the significant differences between the two.
How the hell does a comment like this get 20+ upvotes.
Lotsa tankies on lemmy
Most of this claim is perfectly reasonable. China is claiming international waters.
I do agree though that the claim around Alaska is way too large – it looks a lot more like China’s claim in the South China Sea. Take some small islands and claim the whole sea as yours.
Except those small islands near Alaska are natural, and have always been there, (On a human timescale, anyways) and were part of the original Alaska purchase. The one China uses to claim a whole sea was completely artificial, and built for the sole purpose of claiming new areas.
And Russia/China in Canada’s north.
Well, but see, Chinese people aren’t white.