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wolflordval t1_j1p57el wrote

Reply to comment by LoLModsAreCancer in Chinese ships depart after record-long intrusion into Japanese waters by OceanBreeze246

One of the primary chapters in my International Relations class was about US hypocrisy when it comes to laws exactly like this, and it is one of the primary points of contention when dealing with US-China and US-Middle Eastern relations.

The US has not signed the Convention of Law on the Sea, and Congress explicitly stated that the reason they won't sign is because "they do not want to be bound by it."...then of course, they turn around and deploy Carrier groups to demand China comply with the UN law, which China has signed.

The US has great strategic benefits to forcing China's compliance, and refusing to comply with it themselves. It's also funny how US fleets rarely, if ever, enforce the UN convention on their allies. Generally, only strategic "potential combatants" like China or Iran get these laws "enforced" by US Carrier fleets.

China has a lot to fucking answer for, but they are right when they accuse the US of hypocrisy in this regard. The US doesn't really have any weight when they accuse others of breaking a law they themselves refuse to follow.

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RedShooz10 t1_j1p9bea wrote

The US isn’t being hypocritical. Domestic law puts the US to the same standard regardless if it’s a signatory or not. Furthermore, China is blatantly breaking the law that they claim to follow.

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wolflordval t1_j1pa0dr wrote

No it doesn't. The US does whatever is in its strategic interest, and ignores everything else. Always has.

And China is following the law... from their perspective, all their actions are in compliance with the law. We just disagree about their perspective.

If you take China's claims about the South Sea Islands at face value (you shouldn't because they're bogus, but let's pretend here) then their actions are in compliance with the UN convention. Nobody else agrees with their South Sea Claims, so from everyone else's perspective, they are breaking that law.

Instead of just bickering over if they are breaking the law, which will achieve nothing as both sides are utterly convinced of their correctness, instead we should focus on getting China to withdraw their claims. Just telling them their claims are bunk isn't going to work, especially given how much Chinese culture demands maintaining face and admitting wrongness is not allowed.

We've tried the bully approach for 70 years. It doesn't work.

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RedShooz10 t1_j1pd1kx wrote

Yeah I’m starting to get the vibe you didn’t actually read the terms of the Law of the Sea

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da_impaler t1_j1pdefj wrote

Maintain face?!? Admitting wrongness is not allowed?!? lol, hahahahahaha. Whatever, China. Grow up. That is teenage behavior.

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Karffs t1_j1qcbc3 wrote

>No it doesn't. The US does whatever is in its Chinese culture demands maintaining face and admitting wrongness is not allowed.

In most international cultures admitting when you’re wrong is part of being a fucking adult.

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