Impeccable incident demonstrates variance in interpretations of UNCLOS Article 301 between US and China

It is difficult to comment on the legality of the Impeccable in China’s claimed EEZ without knowing the exact circumstances of what the vessel was doing there. According to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command website, the Impeccable is an ocean surveillance ship that ‘directly support[s] the Navy by using both passive and active low frequency sonar arrays to detect and track undersea threats.’⁸³ Much to China’s irritation, the United States will most likely continue to assert the freedom of navigation and point to military activities in the EEZ as legitimate, non-resource related, and posing no direct threat to the coastal state.⁸⁴ Meanwhile, China relies on Article 301 and demands that the United States respect its legal interests and security concerns.⁸⁵ Ultimately it appears that the two nations remain markedly divergent in their interpretation of whether peacetime military activities such as what the Impeccable was engaged in are a threat to the territorial integrity or political independence of the coastal state.