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U.S. Sides With Vietnam in Maritime Dispute With China freebeacon.com/national-secur…
China tried to claim 90 percent of the sea as historical maritime territory in an unprecedented bid to take control of the international waterway.
Three years ago the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled the Chinese claim to own the South China Sea, based on a vaguely defined Nine-Dash Line around the waterway, was illegal. China has rejected the court ruling.
The dispute over undersea exploration is the most serious since May 2014, when China dispatched a mobile oil platform to the Paracel Islands. Vietnam sent vessels that sought to prevent the Chinese platform from attaching to the seabed and were challenged by Chinese escort ships.
Further north, Chinese and Russian bombers and aircraft were confronted by jet interceptors from South Korea and Japan, after the Chinese and Russian aircraft intruded in Seoul's air defense zone over islands in the Sea of Japan.
South Korea's military also said more than 300 warning shots were fired at a Russian A-50 command and control military jet that intruded into South Korean airspace.
The four-nation standoff was the first of its kind in the region.
The four-nation standoff was the first of its kind in the region.
