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The US dismisses India's objections to US Freedom of Navigation operations against India's maritime claims by saying the US does FONOPs against 'excessive' maritime claims of nations round the world, friend & foe.
This is both misleading & revealing. 1/17 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-protests-us-naval-exercise/article34279034.ece
This is both misleading & revealing. 1/17 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-protests-us-naval-exercise/article34279034.ece
First, though the US does conduct FONOPs against not only rivals but also allies & partners, it still picks & chooses. Most notably, the US has never conducted formal Freedom of Navigation operations against Australia or Canada, despite objecting to their 'excessive' claims. 2/17
E.g. Australia's historic bay claims in Anxious Bay, Encounter Bay, Lacepede Bay, & Rivoli Bay and its straight baselines around the Abrolhos Islands.
(On the former, see https://www.jag.navy.mil/organization/documents/mcrm/Australia2019.pdf; and on the latter, see http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/management_papers/fmp104.pdf) 3/17
(On the former, see https://www.jag.navy.mil/organization/documents/mcrm/Australia2019.pdf; and on the latter, see http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/management_papers/fmp104.pdf) 3/17
Or e.g. Canada's straight baselines around the Arctic Archipelago & treatment of the waters therein (aka the Northwest Passage) as internal waters. https://www.jag.navy.mil/organization/documents/mcrm/Canada2017.pdf
The US & Canada have instead struck private deals to manage this dispute.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/could-kiwi-sailors-northwest-passage-transit-break-legal-ice-between-canada-and-us 4/17
The US & Canada have instead struck private deals to manage this dispute.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/could-kiwi-sailors-northwest-passage-transit-break-legal-ice-between-canada-and-us 4/17
Though not against Australia & Canada, the US has indeed conducted FONOPs against most other countries in the Indian & Pacific oceans that make what the US govt deems to be 'excessive' maritime claims -- (see Appendix 2 in this paper I wrote: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3451412) 5/17
a group that includes virtually all littoral Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. 6/17
Using unilateral military operations to accuse Asian countries of violating the law of the sea (when the US has not even ratified the most relevant convention, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) is probably not the best way to win friends & influence people in Asia. 7/17
(Especially when there appears to be a double standard when it comes to the US pursuing diplomacy instead of military FONOPs against the 'excessive' claims of white-European-descended/'Western' governments in Canberra and Ottawa.) 8/17
I would submit that instead of using military operations to try to impose our version of the so-called 'liberal rules-based international order' on a world of (mostly formerly colonized nations), the US should adopt a less militarized approach toward freedom of navigation. 9/17
The US should discontinue operational assertions & rely instead on the diplomacy & training tracks of the Freedom of Navigation Program to protect its rights to freedom of navigation. (For more info on the different tracks of the FON Program, see my SSRN paper linked above) 10/17
Indeed, the very fact the US deems as "excessive" the maritime claims of such a broad swath of states in Asia suggests that perhaps we would do well to adopt a more compromise-oriented approach that does not deliberately disregard the security concerns of littoral states, 11/17
especially non-Western formerly colonized nations, who have legitimate reason to fear foreign naval power given the history of its use in their subjugation. 12/17
The maritime security concerns of nations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, & Northeast Asia that lead them to restrict foreign military navigation are not going away, especially as China's navy emulates the US Navy in operating more frequently in other countries' waters. 13/17
The US should instead work together with Asian nations to identify balanced compromises that can help them to feel more secure, while enabling the major maritime powers like the US & China to navigate their navies in ways that adequately protect their overseas interests. 14/17
The good news is Track II efforts by the EEZ Group 21, convened by the OPRI @SPF_PR with experts from several countries—Japan, the US, China, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, India & Russia—have already crafted an initial set of guidelines. 15/17
As I wrote in a recent report published by @CarterCenter, the US should use these guidelines as the basis for negotiating an inclusive agreement with Asian states to clarify key contentious issues related to foreign military activities in the EEZ. https://us-china.report/management 16/17
Rather than acting entitled to conduct military operations wherever we want regardless of other countries' laws & security concerns, the US should instead treat other countries as partners in crafting shared solutions to promote mutual security. 17/17
P.S. On that last point, I'm channeling this great essay by @BWJ777 & @JimGoldgeier: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-09-25/united-states-not-entitled-lead-world
I have written another tweet thread on the history and context of the underlying legal dispute between the US & India (and others) over foreign military activities in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ): https://twitter.com/resplinodell/status/1380923308355555339
I have published the thoughts in this thread in essay form on @RStatecraft, with some additional context on the history of the US Freedom of Navigation Program: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/04/13/us-should-stop-using-naval-operations-to-impose-international-order/
