The US Navy’s 7th Fleet announced on April 7, 2021 that one of its warships, USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53), had carried out a Freedom of Navigation operation (FONOP) west of Lakshadweep Islands, “inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law”.
- It further said that India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law, and the “freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims”.
- India 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.
- India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the USS John Paul Jones was continuously monitored transiting from the Persian Gulf towards the Malacca Straits.
- Under the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 — “all foreign ships (other than warships including submarines and other underwater vehicles) shall enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters” and a passage is innocent “so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of India”.
- India also cited the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which “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.”
- India ratified UNCLOS in 1995, the U.S. has failed to do it so far.
(The Hindu)
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