Stop the U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of January 15, 2010

RED CHINA CHALLENGES JAPAN FOR DOMINANCE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA

"The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific told Congress this week that China is using its military forces to try and gain sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

" ‘Motivated by a need for indigenous natural resources and consolidation of self-proclaimed sovereignty limits, the [People’s Republic of China] has reinforced its claims to most of the South China Sea, including the contested Spratly and Paracel Islands,’ said Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the Pacific Command in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.

"As a result, Chinese naval forces have increased patrols throughout the South China Sea region and its warships have ‘shown an increased willingness to confront regional nations on the high seas and within the contested island chains,’ he stated. ‘Additionally, China lays claim to the Senkakus, contested by Japan, and contests areas on its border with India,’ he said."

UNLOST DISREGARDED BY BEIJING

"The Chinese strategy behind the assertiveness is based on Beijing’s interpretation of international law ‘in ways contrary to international norms, such as the U.N. Convention for Law of the Sea, and has passed domestic laws that further reinforce its sovereignty claims.’

"Last year, China’s naval forces took action against several U.S. naval ocean surveillance ships near Hainan Island and also in international waters near northern China in what the Pentagon called ‘harassment.’ In the Hainan incident, a U.S. Navy warship was dispatched to the region to provide security for the ships, which the Pentagon has said are operating freely in international waters.

"China, however, has claimed the ships had violated a 200-mile economic zone claimed by Beijing." Source: Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, The Washington Times, 1/15/10, p. A11

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of March 15, 2005

CONDI IS "LOST" AT SEA

"During her confirmation hearings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked a question that got lost in the Barbara Boxer brouhaha: Did the administration favor the ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST?

"Rice said the administration ‘would certainly like to see it pass as soon as possible.’ Assuming she was authorized to say that by President Bush … the question is why?"

REAGAN SAID NO TO UNLOST, BUT GWB IS PUSHING IT

"LOST was a bad idea when President Reagan refused to sign it in 1982 and actually fired the State Department staff members who helped negotiate it. It was drafted at the behest of Soviet bloc and Third World dictators interested in a scheme to weaken U.S. power while transferring wealth to the developing world."

TREATY WOULD TURN OVER THE OCEANS TO KOFI ANNAN AND U.N. JUDGES

"The Convention on the Law of the Sea would do to our maritime activities – military and economic – what the ICC would have done to our system of criminal justice: place it under the thumb of a supranational body, in this case the discredited and corrupt U.N.

"… LOST would have created an agency to regulate 70% of the Earth’s surface, placing seabed mining, fishing rights and deep-sea oil exploration under the control of a global bureaucracy. Reagan didn’t think the U.S. should be a part of this global resource grab and redistribution of wealth. …"

UNLOST WOULD FORCE U.S. NAVY TO TRIM ITS SAILS

"LOST would also crimp our use of naval power. Signatory Communist China contends, for example, that the treaty bans an initiative under which we can stop and search ships on the high seas suspected of transporting WMD on behalf of terrorists.

"Who’d decide such a dispute? An international court, of course, specifically a Law of the Sea Tribunal with power to compel changes in our military and economic policies. The likes of Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka would have a veto over our use of the seas."

WHY SHOULD GULLIVER SURRENDER TO THE LILLIPUTIANS?

"When John Kerry declared that U.S. actions be subjected to a ‘global test,’ Bush rightly responded that our national security was too important to be left to bodies such as the United Nations Security Council. So why the administration support for LOST? Deep-six this treaty, Mr. President." Source: Investor’s Business Daily editorial, 2/11/05, p. A14

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of January 15, 2005

BUSH CREATES NEW BUREAUCRACY TO PROMOTE U.N. LAW OF THE SEA TREATY ("UNLOST")

"President Bush yesterday ordered the creation of a new federal panel to coordinate oceanic policy. James L. Connaughton, who as chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality will head the new committee, said that among its early goals would be to expand the use of fishing quotas ‘in appropriate settings’ and to win ratification of the Law of the Sea, the international regulatory system that the Bush administration favors but that the Senate has long refused to endorse. …

"Mr. Connaughton said the new committee would consider how uses of coastal areas should be regulated, not just for oil and gas drilling but also for an array of activities, like a wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, south of Cape Cod. In many areas, he said, ‘there’s not a clear process for regulation.’ …

"He also said he was hopeful that Senate opposition to the Law of the Sea could be overcome." Source: Cornelia Dean, The New York Times, 12/18/04, p. A13

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	STOP THE U.N. LAW OF THE SEA TREATY A Project of The Conservative Caucus