U.S.-Chinese diplomatic disputes over EEZ claims have spillover effects on larger global issues

Furthermore, the political impact of aggressively contesting Chinese excessive maritime claims can extend beyond the scope of the Combatant Commander. Fighting the Global War on Terrorism and managing the nuclear crisis in North Korea requires that the United States and China cooperate in an amicable manner such that these crises may be resolved. In the aftermath of the EP-3E incident, the United States and China underwent a pause in their strategic and theater-strategic dialogue.45 In order to achieve national objectives in both the Global War on Terrorism and the situation in North Korea, neither the United States nor China can afford another political freeze because of operational an assertion or routine operations that escalated into a political and legal conflict between the two states.