Comment: No legal grounds for stopping N. Korean ships
( 2003-07-12 11:06) (China Daily)
An 11-nation meeting on stopping the trafficking of weapons of mass
destruction (WDM) on Wednesday and Thursday in Brisbane, Australia, has
pinpointed new targets to shoot at.
The 11 nations at the meeting
included the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Australia.
The gathering was a
follow-up to a June meeting in Madrid where the 11 nations endorsed an
initiative under which ships suspected of being involved in the illegal trade of
weapons will be detained and aircraft grounded.
The initiative is US
President George W. Bush's latest attempt to create a multilateral setting -
other than the United Nations (UN) - to prevent countries such as Iran and the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from importing or exporting nuclear
materials, ballistic missiles or other technologies of mass destruction.
The setting is part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) the
Bush administration put forward when the US president visited Poland in May.
Though no timetable for launching the initiative emerged from the meeting,
the message it sent is dangerous.
The initiative is aimed at setting up
"some other structure outside the formal system" as PSI Chairman Paul O'Sullivan
said. Stopping the proliferation of WMDs is a global issue, and counts on joint
efforts from the international community.
The US-led initiative sneered
at the UN and international law by sidestepping the organization. The UN is
expected to serve as a centre to harmonize the actions of nations and provide an
efficient forum for negotiating on complex issues.
Stopping a ship and
seizing its cargo in international waters will still require the consent of the
country where the vessel is registered.
The legal situations under which
stopping and searching ships are well-defined: Either the interdiction is
justified under a UN Security Council resolution, the ship is suspected of
piracy, the ship is not flying a flag, or the ship is within a nation's 12
nautical mile territorial sea zone.
The PSI seems to indicate that
interdictions would be systematic and could extend to the high seas. Such
interdictions raise legal concerns, because in those bodies of water the
traditional right to the freedom of navigation is to be respected by all
countries under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Interdiction is
seen as an alternative to economic sanctions. However, the DPRK considers the
interdiction of its ships and planes as acts of war.
Armed conflicts are
possible if the legally-controversial detention and searching of vessels occur.
But the United States seems to be determined.
John Bolton, US
undersecretary for arms control and international security, who is also the
country's delegation leader to the Brisbane meeting, expected a maritime
exercise could take place soon after another meeting on the PSI in September.
The UN and international law are being put at stake again, while the
case for the war against Iraq is falling apart.
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