Beyond Arms Race Concern: Indonesia and Submarine Passage in Archipelagic Waters

20.500.12592/h8b7rv

Beyond Arms Race Concern: Indonesia and Submarine Passage in Archipelagic Waters

28 Mar 2023

031 – 28 March 2023 The authors' views are their own and do not represent the official position of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies of the S. [...] The question now is – how does international law regulate submarine passage, and on what basis can Indonesia deny submarines from travelling across the Indonesian archipelago? The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regulates several passage regimes for submarines, namely that of transit passage, innocent passage, and ASL passage. [...] If nuclear submarines want to utilise Indonesian territorial waters and archipelagic waters outside of the designated ASLs, UNCLOS allows for the passage of submarines under the innocent passage regime. [...] Article 27 of the San Remo Manual states that “the rights of transit passage and archipelagic sea lanes passage applicable to international straits and archipelagic waters in peacetime continue to apply in times of armed conflict.” Moreover, Article 29 also stipulates that “Neutral States may not suspend, hamper, or otherwise impede the right of transit passage nor the right of archipelagic sea la. [...] In maintaining a neutral stance, it is imperative that Indonesia continues to observe the developments of the AUKUS initiative and to be prepared to navigate related complexities in the future.

Authors

Janet Fung

Pages
3
Published in
Singapore