New Delhi has informed Washington of its protest against the unlicensed patrol of a US missile launcher in Indian waters, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.
The US Navy’s recent patrol of India’s exclusive economic zone in the waters of the Lexadwip archipelago sparked protests in New Delhi.
The Indian Foreign Ministry has protested against the US Navy’s John Paul Jones missile launcher entering India’s exclusive economic zone, saying New Delhi has conveyed its “concern” to Washington.
According to the Indian newspaper Dekan Herald, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday: (Missile Destroyer) John Paul Jones was regularly observed traveling from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malaga. “We have expressed our concern to the United States Government about its passage through our exclusive economic zone through diplomatic channels.”
The US Navy issued a statement on Wednesday last week about the US Navy’s unauthorized presence in Indian waters, claiming that John Paul Jones had the right to patrol “under international law”.
According to the US Navy, “freedom of patrol and transit operations is the legal use of areas that challenge the international law of Indian naval claims.”
The Indian Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected the move and the subsequent claim of the US Navy, emphasizing that the explicit and stated position of the Indian government is the same as the position of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The ministry clarified: “(The provisions of this Convention) do not allow other countries to conduct operations in the monopoly zone (another country), military exercises involving the use of weapons and explosives without the consent of that coastal country.”