INDIA PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. NAVAL EXERCISE SANS CONSENT

Context:

India said that it has protested the U.S. decision to conduct a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the western Indian Ocean, rejecting the U.S.’s claim that its domestic maritime law was in violation of international law.

Relevance:

GS-II: International Relations (Effect of Foreign Policies on India’s Interests)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About the U.S. conducting FONOP and India’s objection
2. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
3. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
4. Freedom of navigation
5. US and Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS)

About the U.S. conducting FONOP and India’s objection

• Earlier, in a rare and unusual public statement, the U.S. Navy announced that its ship the USS John Paul Jones had carried out Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the Indian EEZ, adding that its operations had “challenged” what the U.S. called India’s “excessive maritime claims.”
• Defending its actions, the U.S. said it was in compliance with the international law and that the U.S. Navy destroyer asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Republic of the Maldives by conducting innocent passage through its territorial sea in normal operations within its exclusive economic zone without requesting prior permission.
• The incident is a rare falling out between the two partners in the Quadrilateral Grouping that had recently committed to upholding freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific together.
• The Government of India’s stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the Convention “does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.”

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international agreement defining the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.
• UNCLOS replaces the older ‘freedom of the seas’ concept, dating from the 17th century: national rights were limited to a specified belt of water extending from a nation’s coastlines according to the ‘cannon shot’ rule.
• All waters beyond national boundaries were considered international waters: free to all nations, but belonging to none of them.
• While India ratified UNCLOS in 1995, the U.S. has failed to do it so far.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

• The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defined the EEZ as a zone in the sea over which a sovereign nation has certain special rights with respect to the exploration and usage of marine resources, which includes the generation of energy from wind and water, and also oil and natural gas extraction.
• The EEZ is an area that is adjacent to and beyond the territorial sea.
• It can extend to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The baseline is normally measured is the low-water line along the coast as indicated on large-scale charts officially approved by the coastal state.
• The EEZ does not include the territorial sea and also does not include the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, however, it includes the contiguous zone.
• Within the EEZ, the country has rights over natural resources. The country has jurisdiction over some activities for the reasons of environmental protection, among others.
• It also has to respect the rights of other countries in the EEZ such as the freedom of navigation.
• The difference between territorial sea and the EEZ is that the former confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the latter is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal nation’s rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters are international waters.

Freedom of navigation

• Freedom of navigation (FON) is a principle of customary international law that ships flying the flag of any sovereign state shall not suffer interference from other states, apart from the exceptions provided for in international law.
• In the realm of international law, it has been defined as freedom of movement for vessels, freedom to enter ports and to make use of plant and docks, to load and unload goods and to transport goods and passengers. This right is now also codified in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• Not all UN member states have ratified the convention, notably, the United States has signed, but not ratified the convention – However, United states enforces the practice.

US and Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS)

• The US Department of Defense defines FONOPs as “operational challenges against excessive maritime claims” through which “the United States demonstrates its resistance to excessive maritime claims.”
• The United States has an institutionalized FONOPs program called the Freedom of Navigation Program, which undertakes many FONOPs around the world every year.
• U.S. armed forces have conducted FONOPs in areas claimed by other countries but considered by the U.S. to be international waters.

-Source: The Hindu