The Chinese ships
were doing operations "consistent with international law," U.S.
officials said, under the maritime rule of "innocent passage," where
ships are permitted to enter territorial waters and are not challenged
so long as they keep moving directly and expeditiously.
U.S. officials emphasized that Russian warships exercise "innocent
passage" around Alaska with regularity. However, this is a first for
Chinese naval ships -- and the transit took place while President Barack
Obama was in Alaska.
U.S. Northern
Command, whose area of responsibility includes all air, land and sea
approaches to the continental U.S. and Alaska, told CNN it is not aware
of any communications between the U.S. and Chinese military during the
passage.
When a CNN crew was aboard a
U.S. P8 surveillance aircraft near manmade islands off the coast of
China -- islands the U.S. does not recognize as Chinese territory -- the
Chinese military warned the flight crew eight times to leave Chinese
territory immediately.
Asked
about the difference, a defense official told CNN that as a matter of
policy, the U.S. does not challenge ships executing safe transit through
U.S. territorial waters, in part to be consistent with its history of
challenging other nation's excessive territorial claims.
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