this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2025

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168

China says US broke international law by seizing oil tankers off Venezuela (www.scmp.com)

submitted 18 hours ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/globalnews@lemmy.zip

38 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Situation intensifies as Beijing condemns tanker seizures and US security chief calls to remove Nicolas Maduro from power.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20251223000937/https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3337400/china-says-us-broke-international-law-seizing-venezuelan-oil-tankers

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

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[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

They would know all about breaking international law. They are right in this case but its clear they care nothing for obeying international law themselves.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Nations are always hypocrites at some level.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 0 points 11 minutes ago

Without doubt. Look how we let the scum float to the top of the swamp.

[–] WatchfulConsole@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0fUixs

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 31 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I'm no supporter of China ... nor the US ... nor Russia ... nor the UK

But if you change the country names to these headlines, it makes you question why we accept some things and not others

"China seizes oil tanker off Philippines"

The world would go insane and send us to near WWIII if not the start of it .... but change it to 'US seizes oil tanker off Venezuela', and all of a sudden it is acceptable.

[–] ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 10 points 12 hours ago

The only reason why it doesn't is because the West has the biggest stick and America dropped a couple nukes and killed hundreds of thousands for profit so it's not like we don't know they're crazy and amoral enough to threaten us all if we step out of line... Trust me, this is already known by most countries, the global South in particular, but you shouldn't forget that as long as you live in the West you're immersed in a Western propaganda bubble. But yes, that Matrix-like awakening/epiphany is on the right track of things. 👍

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Considering how China has been treating Filipino vessels, I'm not sure I agree.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Has it been double tapping Filipino fishing boats?

[–] Pussycuntoisseur@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Nobody can double tap fishing boats off the top rope that's an American specialty.

[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 8 points 14 hours ago

Everybody's saying it

[–] ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago

I AM THE LAW!

[+] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca -8 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Oh, now they suddenly care about international law?

Lol! smh.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

They learned it from the west

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

To care for it or not to care? Because the latter is a weird thing to say in reply to someone who thinks they never cared for it in the first place

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 0 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Explain which international laws China has broken in the last 5 years.

I will wait.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 9 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Their entire "claim" to the South China Sea, which completely disregards both international and maritime law. You can't lay claim to international waters...but try telling China that. They regularly harass and even attack boats from neighboring countries, that are operating within their own coastal economic zones.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not defending the US in any way...but China is the last country with any credible right to criticize other countries for playing fast and loose with maritime laws.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world -5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

The usa and it's allies are financing the genocides in sudan and palestine

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Cool. What does that have to do with China claiming to own international waters?

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

We were talking about international laws in general. What's worse than genocides of the scale of Gaza and Sudan?

The most brutal blockades are also by the USA's allies. The UAE backing the RSF, who have a blockade on controlled cities, the blockade in Cuba by the USA, and the blockade by Israel in Gaza are the two longest blockades currently in place.

80% of Gaza’s children report living with depression, grief, and fear. More than half of Gaza’s children have contemplated suicide. That's before 2023

China is also committing a lot of abuses but not at the USA and its ally level.

Israel kidnap and attack fishman on palestinians water too

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 6 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

That's a whole lot of whataboutism to deflect from the point I was making.

To be clear...as I said previously...I'm not defending the US.

I'm just pointing out how ridiculous it is that China is calling them out. The fact that Russia is saying it too, is equally hilarious. It's like watching a bunch of career criminals all calling each other crooks. It's about as disingenuous as it gets.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, now they suddenly care about international law?

This is your original comment. The point you were making is LITERALLY whataboutism.

The US is factually violating international law. China called them out. You said "but what about China violating international law".

It doesn't get much more whataboutism than that. So let me continue you the trend here.

You think the commenter you were replying to is doing a whataboutism? What about your whataboutism?!

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

I don't think you know what "whataboutism" means, then. It's when you deflect to something unrelated, instead of focusing on the topic in question. In this case, the topic in question was LITERALLY China accusing the US of violating international law, specifically in regards to maritime law.

There is no better irony, than China...who is currently violating international law, specifically in regards to maritime law...criticizing the US for doing exactly the same thing. See, how I didn't change the subject? It was LITERALLY the subject already.

Pointing out someone's hypocrisy isn't whataboutism, if the subject is the same. Otherwise the entire concept of calling out hypocrisy would be considered a logical fallacy. It's only whataboutism, if you are bringing up unrelated topics in order to change the subject.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

It's not whataboutism . You said China is worse than the usa is not respecting international laws and maritime laws. I gave you all the evidence of why I think the usa ia worth.

Yes it is hilarious when China and Russia claim to care about inteenational laws but it is even more hilarious when the USA and it's ally claim it. Like canada claiming to want a two state solution in Gaza at the same time allowing selling of occupied land in Synaguoges and allowing an IDF soldier to talk in an University

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I never said China was worse...only that they're also violating the very same laws they're criticizing the US for violating. If the hypocrisy wasn't so on-the-nose, I wouldn't have said anything...but this is just laughable.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

No, your argument was more than just China being hypocritical which i agree with you on that. You said China is the last country who should talk about international and maritine laws. I think the usa is the last since they are worse than China but doesn't makes China better

China is the last country with any credible right to criticize other countries for playing fast and loose with maritime laws.

Shouldn't the worse be the last to talk about it?

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

"The worst" is the subject of their criticism. Are you expecting them to criticize themselves? Because if they did, that would be a rare example of self-awareness on their part...not an act of hypocrisy.

But considering China has been blatantly and willfully violating the neutrality of international waters for years now, it is surprising they don't see their own hypocrisy here. A fitting analogy would be Russia criticizing Israel for stealing land from Palestinians. Sure, you can make some arguments about the scale of the comparison...but it's basically a "pot calling the kettle black" scenario, all the same.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

But considering China has been blatantly and willfully violating the neutrality of international waters for years now

The US blockade in cuba is 60 years old. The usa as a funder of israel occupation is responsible of the 19 years blockade in Gaza and the kidnapping and murdering of Palestinian fishmen

Again China is terrible but the usa is worse

[+] frisbird@lemmy.ml -6 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Attack how? With munitions? Like they attack them with lethal force? That kind of attack?

Were maritime laws created with China involved or were they created by the Western Europeans who invaded China by sea and occupied their port cities for a century?

[–] Saapas@piefed.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

"Explain what international law they broke!"

"Well these"

"Those don't count"

Lol

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

By ramming fishing boats with military vessels.

And are you saying that China can just pick and choose which international laws it follows and which ones it doesn't? "Oh, we didn't agree to that one...so it doesn't apply to us."

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml -2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

No, I am saying the West has been weaponizing international law for centuries. The Doctrine of Discovery was international law in that it was a decree that courts in multiple nation relied on to justify genocide, slavery, and land dispossession. The US has established that it will subvert all social institutions up to and including training, arming, and transporting terrorists. It has also demonstrated that it has every intention of establishing a dominant presence encircling both China and Russia in the USA's insane quest to undermine MAD and win a nuclear war with a first strike decapitation. China is asserting its control over a specific region of the seas that are a national security priority given the US's constant beligerence. To say that China may not have such a presence and may not declare the region militarized due to internation law is the same thing as saying Biden can't do anything about Trump because he lacked the necessary legal procedures to do so. China is establishing it's national security boundary as its military assessment sees fit given the threat of the US surrounding it. I am not going lose sleep over China breaking international law about freedom of navigation in the waters nearest it's territory when the US is destroying a dozen countries at any given time.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That was a whole lot of words to say "USA bad for ignoring international law...but China good for ignoring it".

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

China's not good for ignoring it. China is violating international law in its attempt to establish its national security against the constant threats by the US and its allies.

The US violates international law to steal oil, traffick human slave, drugs, and weapons, train and arm terrorists, dump toxic waste in poor countries that can't defend themselves, and bomb whoever the fuck even thinks about running their own country.

These are not the same violations of international law.

It's like saying that guy violated the law when he pulled an illegal uturn while you're standing there with a rifle and 12 bodies at your feet.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, so what China is doing is "bad"...but they're doing it for "good reasons"? I find it hard to believe that you don't see how disingenuous that argument is.

Americans have been hiding behind their own sense.of exceptionalism to justify all kinds of bad behavior. Small transgressions. Large ones. Doesn't matter. They have an excuse for all of it, because they think the rules don't apply to them. They think that because "(insert excuse here)", they have the right to ignore them.

All you're doing is making the same arguments that they do...you're just doing it for China instead of the US, and acting like it's SO different when China does it, because the US did it worse. It's not a valid argument.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Violating law is not inherently bad, no. We all know this. Laws do not have moral/ethical value. So what China is doing is in violation of international law, but that does not mean it's bad.

What the US does, as the world's most violent empire, is bad - not because it violates international law but because it is acting in the interest of total domination and subjugation of the world's people.

What China is doing in the SCS is very clearly in the interest of establishing its own national security against exactly the immoral behavior of the USA. Sure, harassment of fisherman feels like a terrible thing, but when we look at it in the full context, China is asserting its willingness to control a region of the waters and apply a consistent rule in those waters (no one has access) in an attempt to create conditions under which it can stop war ships from the US, UK, Japan, and other anti-Chinese powers from operating with impunity in those waters. And the reason it wants to be able to do that is because these countries have all raped and pillaged not only China but many of the countries that have coastlines on the SCS.

What the US is doing is, having successfully raped and pillaged multiple countries with shorelines on the SCS, attempting to say it has the right to peacefully move war ships including nuclear-capable submarines into the SCS because it's international waters and it doesn't matter if strategically that means China will have a gaping security hole in its national defense.

Again, it's like saying cryptography is illegal, and now that we've made it illegal, it is actually immoral to protect your home computers from hackers and then saying someone installing cryptography is just as wrong as the hackers stealing their data. It's total bullshit and you and people like you totally understand the concept of immoral laws and laws with immoral consequences when it involves concepts in your own ideology but you discard it immediately when it comes to the national defense of the West's military targets. You have to see how disingenuous this is.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

Your entire premise is actually backwards. You are claiming that international laws are arbitrary, and don't have any "moral/ethical value". That is completely incorrect. They are based on common sense, fair practices that seek to reduce or eliminate conflict between nations. The entire point is to sustain a moral and ethical balance, where everyone's rights are respected.

It isn't the same thing as declaring cryptography illegal. That would be an example of an arbitrary law. In the case of international waters being open for anyone's use, it is anything but arbitrary. Other countries have every right to use those waters for trade and travel. Restricting their access to those waters represents an infringement on their rights.

What you're saying China had every right to do, directly violates someone else's right to do the same thing. That is why it is illegal. No one is out there in the South China Sea, stopping China from moving through the area, are they? No one is stopping them from sending ships past the North American coast to Panama either. The US has no right to patrol those waters and harass ships that use them...because those waters belong to everyone.

What the US is doing right now in the Caribbean however, IS illegal for exactly the same reason. It's even worse, because they're also just blowing up boats that they claim are transporting drugs...but even if all they were doing was seizing those vessels or harassing traffic through the area...they would still be violating the law.

It doesn't matter what justification they claimed they had, regarding their own "security"...they have no right to restrict other countries access to trade and travel, through territory that belongs to everyone.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You know what they’ve been doing to Philippine vessels, right?

And then there’s the laws against compromising another country’s telephone system.

And a whole bunch of other laws. Essentially, if the US has broken an international law in the past 5 years, China has broken it in a less aggressive manner as a response.

And then of course there’s the illegal police stations in other countries and their treatment of Uyghurs at home.

Thing is, China has been very careful to break international law in ways that other countries of power are also doing, mostly the US.

That still doesn’t make it right.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml -1 points 16 hours ago

So what you're saying is that China refuses to let international law be used in a way that allows the US to operate with complete impunity while the US romps around doing things that threaten others? Sounds like a pretty solid policy, honestly.