By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – Ratifying the Law of the Sea Convention is
the right thing to do for American national security, the U.S. military’s
highest-ranking officer said here today.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Pew Charitable Trusts gathering on the
treaty that he joins each chairman since the document was signed in 1994 to
urge the Senate to ratify it.
Republican and Democratic
administrations have both urged approval. And, Dempsey maintains, the treaty is
good for American military rights.
“It codifies navigational rights and
freedoms essential for our global mobility,” he said. “It helps sustain our
combat forces in the field.”
The treaty also guarantees the right of
innocent passage through foreign territorial seas, the right of transit passage
through international straits and the right to exercise high seas freedoms in
foreign exclusive economic zones — all without permission or prior notice.
In addition, the treaty also affirms the
sovereign immunity of U.S. warships and other public vessels. “And it gives us
the framework to counter excessive claims by states seeking to illegally
restrict movement of vessels and aircraft,” Dempsey said. “These are all rights
and capabilities that we want and that we need. In fact, they are of our own
making. We negotiated them into the convention to advance our national security
interests.”
The United States could, of course, not
ratify the treaty and depend on the same strategy an infant republic used more
than 200 years ago, the chairman said. “At that time, we commissioned the
Navy’s first ships to safeguard our seaborne merchants against the Barbary
pirates,” he said.
The force of arms should not be
America’s only national security instrument, the chairman said, and the Law of
the Sea Convention provides an additional way to navigate an increasingly
complex international security environment.
“Ratification now represents an
unprecedented opportunity,” the chairman said. “The convention offers an
opportunity to exercise global security leadership.”
More than 160 nations are now a party to
the convention. “Even so, the world looks to us for leadership,” he said. “We
have the world’s largest and most capable navy, largest economy, and the
largest exclusive economic zone. We will become the leader within the
convention as soon as we enter it. And that’s never been more important.”
Dempsey said that on, over and under the
oceans, nations are making competing claims or posturing themselves to restrict
the movement of others, and these actions affect the United States, its allies
and friends.
“As a party to the convention, we can
help resolve conflicts, strengthen alliances and foster innovative
partnerships,” he said. “We have never been better poised – or more welcomed –
to lead a global security order benefiting all peaceful nations.”
The convention secures legitimate global
freedom of access for the U.S. armed forces, Dempsey told the audience. “Today,
we rely on customary international law and assert it through physical presence
– warships and aircraft transiting and challenging illegal restrictions,” he
said. “Some say this alone is sufficient.”
But this works against U.S. rights in
that nations will continue to try and bend customary law to restrict movement
on the ocean, he said, and it puts U.S. ships, subs, aircraft and personnel at
risk to continually challenge these claims.
“We are strong enough for this role. We
can and will continue to defend our interests, and we’ll do that with force
when necessary,” Dempsey said. “But we can also be smart. We can leverage law
to mitigate the need for physical assertion. Under the Law of the Sea
Convention, we can be both strong and smart.”
Ratifying the convention also
strengthens the U.S. position in Asia, the chairman said.
Finally, Dempsey said, joining the Law
of the Sea Convention will strengthen America’s strategic position in Asia.
“The Western Pacific is a mosaic of competing claims for territory and
resources,” the chairman said. “This is a critical region where, as a Pacific
nation, our security and economic prosperity are inextricably linked.”
The United States wants to mitigate any
conflict in the Pacific, Dempsey said. “The convention gives us another tool to
effectively resolve conflicts at every level,” he added. “It provides a common
language, and therefore a better opportunity, to settle disputes with
cooperation instead of cannon fire.”
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