India-US dispute

  • The US Navy recently conducted a freedom of navigation patrol in Indian waters without India’s prior consent. 
  • It declared that it was intended as a challenge to India’s “excessive maritime claims”.
  • USS John Paul Jones (the ship) asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands. 
  • There has been no official reaction from the Indian government and it is not known if Indian forces had challenged the US warship.
UNCLOS
  • UNCLOS is also sometimes referred to as the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty. 
  • It came into operation and became effective from 16th November 1982. 
  • However, the first time such a proposal was announced before the United Nations was in the year 1973.
  • India ratified the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1995.
  • It said, “the provisions of the Convention do not authorize other States to carry out in the exclusive economic zone 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”. 
  • The US has not ratified UNCLOS.
THE DISPUTE
  • The difference between India and US is over the interpretation of Article 58 (i) of the convention.  
  • US has long argued that the phrase “other internationally lawful uses of the sea” means that, they can enjoy the freedom to operate in the EEZ.

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