By Anthony Marcus, correspondent. Eurasia Business News, July 31, 2024. Article n°1125.

The governments of Russia and China believe that the US claims to part of the seabed of the Bering Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and to the potential resources lying there are groundless and should be rejected.

On 19 December 2023 the United States unilaterally released the geographic coordinates defining the outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf in areas beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast, which, according to the USA, are determined “in accordance with customary international law, as reflected in the relevant provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Scientific and Technical Guidelines of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf”

Representatives of Russia and China announced their position at a session of the International Seabed Authority in Kingston, Jamaica. The countries that have ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea are engaged in lengthy discussions to reach an agreement on where the boundaries of the underwater continental shelves lie. These demarcations are important because exclusive economic rights to “potentially lucrative seabed resources” depend on them.

The representative of Russia recalled that the United States has not ratified the 1982 UN Convention. In this regard, the Russian official considered that the unilateral claims of the United States “threaten the fragile international balance, as well as the integrity of the convention.” He stressed that Russia “rejects the selective approach of the United States to international law.”

The representative of the China said that the United States does not have the right to put forward such demands unilaterally and “cannot expect to receive benefits from the convention without ratifying it.” The official called the resources of the international seabed “the common heritage of mankind” and said that any actions that jeopardize it should not be approved. Bloomberg clarifies that the Seabed Authority does not name individual delegates when they speak on behalf of their country, but officials from both countries “have been persistent” in advancing their positions.

U.S. Representative Gregory O’Brien responded to their claims. He assured that when making claims to the continental shelf, the US authorities comply with the rules of the 1982 UN convention.

In December last year, the United States reported an increase in the continental shelf in seven areas of the world’s oceans. The total area of the allocated seabed area is about 1 million square kilometers, and according to Bloomberg, the state plans to gain access to minerals for the production of batteries for electric vehicles, as well as to an oil and gas field, through expansion. The mentioned Arctic zone is of strategic importance, since Russia and Canada claim it. The Russian Foreign Ministry sent a demarche to Washington.

Defined in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the outer limits are determined using the rules of Article 76. 

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© Copyright 2024 – Eurasia Business News. Article No. 1125.