Would someone please provide the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) spokesman with a map! Over the last few months, since it was rumored, then denied, and then confirmed that the George Washington aircraft carrier would be involved in naval "show of force" maneuvers off the west coast of South Korea, PLA interlocutors have been proclaiming they "resolutely oppose any foreign military vessel and aircraft conducting activities in the Yellow Sea and China's coastal waters that undermine China's security interests."
China's coastal waters? While the George Washington's Yellow Sea area of operations has not yet been delineated, one assumes that it will operate in or adjacent to South Korean waters, somewhere in the general vicinity of the sinking of the South Korean Navy's Cheonan corvette by a North Korean torpedo. This will place it about 195 km away from the closest Chinese landmass on the Shandong Peninsula and 280 km from the closest city of any significance, Dalian. How does this undermine China's security interests?
These facts of geography notwithstanding, we have PLA commentators warning of a possible "collision" between U.S./South Korean and Chinese naval ships, while another threatens "If someone harms me, I must harm them." Since when is operating in or near South Korean coastal waters — the Yellow Sea touches the North and South Korean as well as the Chinese coast — threaten China or do it harm?
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