In July 2025, the US Coast Guard issued a statement affirming that the US had discovered the Chinese-flagged research vessel Xue Long 2 in the "extended continental shelf of the US in the Arctic" and that the US would closely monitor and respond to protect its territorial integrity and sovereign interests.
On this issue, Dr. Bao Yinan (Huayang Institute) wrote an article, stating that:
- The Xue Long 2 vessel exercised "freedom of navigation" according to international law. The US government said the vessel was about 290 nautical miles from Utqiagvik, Alaska, which is outside the US EEZ, in international waters. The ship's activities are consistent with Articles 87 and 257 of UNCLOS on freedom of scientific research.
- The US implicitly implies that the Xue Long 2 infringed on the US's "sovereign interests" in its extended continental shelf, but has not provided evidence that the ship was engaging in any marine scientific research activities targeting the US's extended continental shelf.
- The US has not ratified UNCLOS. Even if the US has the right to claim the EEZ outside of UNCLOS, the legality of the scope of the claim cannot be unilaterally decided by the US, and China has no obligation to recognize it (especially when China and Russia have objected to this claim).
- Unlike the US's USNS Impeccable, the Xue Long 2 is only a civilian research vessel, not a "potential threat" to any country's security.
The US side may have also anticipated these legal and technical arguments, so it only issued a Coast Guard statement, which did not confirm that the Chinese ship's activities were in violation of international law, but only said in general that it would respond to violations of international law and US sovereignty (if any).
Edited and translated by HDRead the original article in Vietnamese here
