NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have expressed concerns after the US Navy conducted a freedom of navigation patrol in Indian waters without prior consent, declaring that it was intended to challenge India’s excessive maritime claims.
India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a statement said on Friday, “We have conveyed our concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the government of USA through diplomatic channels.”
There is no indication in the official press note that the US warship was challenged while it was passing through the EEZ. Arindam Bagchi said the vessel was examined incessantly as it sailed from the Persian Gulf toward the Malacca Strait.
India believes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not authorize countries to carry out military exercises or maneuvers, particularly involving the use of weapons or explosives, in other states’ EEZs and continental shelves without the consent of the coastal state, read the statement.
Earlier, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement that the USS John Paul Jones stressed navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s EEZ, without requesting India’s prior permission, constant with international law.
India’s requirement that countries receive prior approval for military operations in its EEZ was conflicting with international law and that the US will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, it added.
FoN ops by USN ships (ineffective as they may be) in South China Sea, are meant to convey a message to China that the putative EEZ around the artificial SCS islands is an “excessive maritime claim.” But what is the 7th Fleet message for India? https://t.co/epo0CY9mqC
— Adm. Arun Prakash (@arunp2810) April 9, 2021
