The Straits Times
DEC 28 — As the year ends, one is driven to pick events that may have been significant to Southeast Asia. To me, the most significant events this year were, not necessarily in the order of their significance, the Impeccable “incident”, the global economic crisis, the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen, the United States' strengthening links with Asean, Barack Obama becoming United States President, the fortification of structures in the South China Sea, the continued rise of China, the effectivity of the Asean Charter, and the bad blood between Thailand and Cambodia.
On March 8, the Impeccable, a US naval vessel designed to tow surveillance equipment, was confronted — “harassed”, the US said — by Chinese ships in China's 322km exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as it sought information on a submarine base on Hainan island. Both China and the US agree the Impeccable was in China's EEZ. But they disagree on whether it was legal under international law for the Impeccable to do what it was doing in the area. This incident highlighted the strategic rivalry between China and the US, notwithstanding their economic interdependence.
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