THE US Navy has conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) near Lakshadweep Islands without informing India to challenge 'India's excessive maritime claims', reports Mumbai's Times of India.
India's External Affairs Ministry said it 'continuously monitored' the ship's passage and had conveyed India's 'concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ' to the US through diplomatic channels.
The operation was conducted by the 9,000-displacement ton guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands (pop 11,000), themselves 270 miles off the southwest coast of the Indian mainland but 'inside India's exclusive economic zone (EEZ)', said the Times report.
India's EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles from the shoreline - a fact acknowledged by the US but which, it said, was 'a claim inconsistent with international law'. EEZs are technically international waters, so the US hasn't broken any maritime law.
The timing of the FONOPs is mystifying considering that both countries were part of the recent Quad-plus France naval exercises. Moreover, the US has sought India's help in bolstering 'alliances and partnerships' against China in the Indo-Pacific region.
While the US 7th Fleet said the FONOP was 'not about making political statements', the US has yet to sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides for full economic rights to nations for a 200-mile zone by their shoreline.
As per a US Navy report in 2016, the US has been conducting such FONOPS since 1985 in Indian territorial waters.
Since 1979, when it was formally established the US has been conducting FONOPs as a way of telling other nations that it 'does not acquiesce to the excessive maritime claims of other nations, and thus prevents those claims from becoming accepted in international law'. The US Department of Defence says that FONOPs are 'deliberately planned'.
In fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019-September 30, 2020), the US conducted FONOPs to challenge claims of 19 countries, some of them 'multiple times'. These countries include China, Pakistan and even Japan.
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India's External Affairs Ministry said it 'continuously monitored' the ship's passage and had conveyed India's 'concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ' to the US through diplomatic channels.
The operation was conducted by the 9,000-displacement ton guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands (pop 11,000), themselves 270 miles off the southwest coast of the Indian mainland but 'inside India's exclusive economic zone (EEZ)', said the Times report.
India's EEZ extends up to 200 nautical miles from the shoreline - a fact acknowledged by the US but which, it said, was 'a claim inconsistent with international law'. EEZs are technically international waters, so the US hasn't broken any maritime law.
The timing of the FONOPs is mystifying considering that both countries were part of the recent Quad-plus France naval exercises. Moreover, the US has sought India's help in bolstering 'alliances and partnerships' against China in the Indo-Pacific region.
While the US 7th Fleet said the FONOP was 'not about making political statements', the US has yet to sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides for full economic rights to nations for a 200-mile zone by their shoreline.
As per a US Navy report in 2016, the US has been conducting such FONOPS since 1985 in Indian territorial waters.
Since 1979, when it was formally established the US has been conducting FONOPs as a way of telling other nations that it 'does not acquiesce to the excessive maritime claims of other nations, and thus prevents those claims from becoming accepted in international law'. The US Department of Defence says that FONOPs are 'deliberately planned'.
In fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019-September 30, 2020), the US conducted FONOPs to challenge claims of 19 countries, some of them 'multiple times'. These countries include China, Pakistan and even Japan.
SeaNews Turkey