Murkowski, Sullivan misrepresent the location of Chinese, Russian warships

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan made exaggerated claims about the exact location of the 11 military vessels from China and Russia tracked in the north Pacific last week, then launched into their standard refrain about why the U.S, needs to spend a lot more money in Alaska on the military.

Their standard refrain never includes details about how they intend to pay for what they want. They won’t propose any taxes and they won’t propose real budget cuts. (Sullivan’s recent “plan” to reduce funding for the IRS was not a real budget cut, as it would have reduced enforcement of the tax laws and cut federal revenue.)

In their joint press release, the senators failed to make it clear that the ships remained in international waters and did not enter U.S. territorial waters at any time, which means 12 nautical miles away from land.

The Aleutian Islands are located along an 1,100-mile arc, so saying something took place “near” them is like saying something happened between New York and Chicago.

The press release quoted Murkowski and Sullivan as referring to this incident as an “incursion.” Murkowski and Sullivan left the impression that the ships traveled where they have no right to travel and were in “U.S. waters.”

“The incursion by 11 Chinese and Russian warships operating together – off the coast of Alaska – is yet another reminder that we have entered a new era of authoritarian aggression led by the dictators in Beijing and Moscow,” the press release quoted Sullivan as saying.

This is why, Sullivan said, the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps need to expand their operations in Alaska and while we need more ships and more infrastructure, including a new port in Nome.

Sullivan has long been a proponent of the U.S. performing “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea, saying that the 12-mile limit should not apply to the built-up reefs created by China.

A “freedom of navigation” exercise is one in which a nation follows international law and travels in international waters close to other nations, even if the other nations claim that the journey represents an illegal incursion into their waters.

Sullivan told Alaska’s News Source that the Chinese and Russians are “essentially doing freedom of navigation and navigation operations incursions into Alaska’s area.”

The U.S. Northern Command said in a statement about the Chinese and Russian ships that “The patrol remained in international waters and was not considered a threat.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Satuday the ships, “which never entered U.S. territorial waters and have since left, were shadowed by four U.S. destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircraft.”

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