Editor's Pick: U.S. asserts freedom of navigation

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

In a move seen as puzzling, or even aggressive, the US Navy conducted a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Western Indian Ocean without informing India. This freedom of navigation operation (FNOP) was conducted, the U.S. said, to challenge India’s ‘excessive maritime claims’.

The operation was carried out on Wednesday when the USS John Paul Jones asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands. On Friday India’s External Affairs Ministry said it had protested the U.S. decision to conduct the operation and rejected the U.S. 's claim that its domestic maritime law was in violation of international law. This was in turn met by an assertive statement from the U.S. Pentagon which said the patrol did not require permission and was in compliance with international law. “We continue to maintain the right, indeed the responsibility, to fly, sail, and operate in accordance with international law," a Pentagon spokesperson said.

While the U.S. said the FONOP was "not about making political statements", it is 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. India’s position in this case is that the UNCLOS does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ, which extends up to 200 nautical miles from the shoreline, any military exercises or manoeuvres without the consent of the coastal state.”

Since it was formally established about 40 years ago, FONOP has involved passages conducted by the US Navy through waters claimed by coastal nations as their exclusive territory. These are deliberately planned and a way of asserting that the U.S. does not acquiesce to excessive maritime claims in order to prevent them being accepted in international law. As per a US Navy report from 2016, the US has been conducting such FONOPS since 1985 in Indian territorial waters. Such operations are also regularly conducted along the coasts of Pakistan, China and even Japan, amongst others. The only difference this time seems to be that the U.S has released a statement explaining the details. The incident is a rare falling out between the two partners in the Quadrilateral Grouping and the timing is strange given that they had recently committed to upholding freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific together. That marks this story out as our top pick of the day.

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