U.S. rejection of UNCLOS could cause entire regime to unravel, foreclosing possibility of renegotiating similar treaty

If the United States and other major maritime and industrialized powers do not become parties to the Convention, there is a real possibility and probability that the delicate balance that the Convention provides in dealing with emerging issues of im- portance, including environmental protection and resource conservation, would simply begin to unravel. The Convention provides an excellent framework for address- ing and resolving contentious issues which, if attended to solely on a bilateral basis, would undoubtedly give rise to increased tensions and conflict elsewhere. Moreover, if the Convention does not receive the support of the major maritime powers, it will lose its restraining influence as law, and the United States will thus be hard pressed to argue that the Convention continues to reflect customary international law. As a result, insistence upon our navigational freedoms, based on a traditional claim-counterclaim, customary international law approach, would be costly diplomatically and economically and could invite military resistance. It was this reality that led us as a nation to undertake the prolonged negotiations that resulted in the 1982 Convention. Moreover, the Convention’s entry into force and its wide accept- ance properly forecloses any possibilities of reopening negotiations.