Boundaries in the News-2020
Buddhi Narayan Shrestha
Boundaries in the News-2020
- Officials from The Philippines and China were expected to meet in January 2021 to discuss a proposed joint oil exploration project in the Reed Bank Area of the South China Sea.
- Indonesia intensified its patrols in the waters off the Natuna Islands, in the Riau Islands province, following persistent intrusion by Chinese coast guard vessels escorting Chinese fishing boats into the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claimed by Indonesia.
- An agreement was reached between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia concerning oil production in the Neutral Zone, an area of land and water defined in a 1922 agreement. The agreement included a division of the area and a memorandum of understanding related to resuming oil production.
- In February, the EU said they would not intervene in the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, stating it had no jurisdiction in the dispute and that the two states were required to find a solution between themselves.
- Singapore and Malaysia began negotiations on delimiting the maritime boundaries around Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge in February. Officials from both sides met to continue discussions on implementing the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) judgment over the sovereignty of the maritime features.
- In March the Inter Ministerial Commission for the Delimitation and Demarcation of the Common Maritime Border between Angola and the Republic of the Congo agreed they would delimit their maritime border by 2022. They currently share the Lianzi Oil Field located in a unitized zone, which includes parts of Block 14 located in Angola, and the Haute Mer Permit located in the Republic of the Congo.
- In a move which appears to be an attempt to cement its territorial claims, China created two districts and named 25 islands and reefs and 55 underwater locations in the disputed waters of the South China Sea in April. Vietnam claimed that the move “seriously violated” its territorial sovereignty in the area.
- China produced new maps of its territory in April that included parts of Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian hill state bordering Tibet, within its international boundaries. They also revealed changes to the disputed area of Mulasading on the China/Bhutan border and the borders of Tashkurgan County in the Kashgar region on the China/Tajikistan border.
- Negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the completion and filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) stalled again in May and June after confrontations on the border between Ethiopia and Sudan. The clashes cast doubt over the future of Sudanese-Ethiopian relations and may impact ongoing tensions surrounding the GERD.
- In June, Greece and Italy reached an historic agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones in the Ionian Sea. The signing of the agreement on the boundaries of the two countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) was effectively an extension of a previous maritime borders deal that was agreed in 1977, but the formal agreement concluded 40 years of uncertainty.
- Also in June, clashes broke out between Indian and Chinese troops along the disputed Himalayan border in the Ladakh area of Kashmir after both sides met in the Galwan Valley. It was reported that fighting between the two sides started when an Indian patrol came across Chinese forces on a narrow ridge. The Indian Foreign Ministry confirmed that at least 20 of their troops were dead.
- In July, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea held bilateral talks over their disputed border, resulting in Equatorial Guinea agreeing to temporarily halt the construction of a controversial border wall. Equatorial Guinea started to build a wall along the 183km stretch of their border with Cameroon in August 2019, which led to tensions after Cameroon accused Equatorial Guinea of “intolerable encroachment” and “expansionist ambitions” on its land. Tensions in the Eastern.
- Mediterranean intensified in August with Turkey and Greece entangled in a war of words over potential offshore gas and oil deposits and their rights to over-lapping Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). NATO made an attempt to defuse tensions between fellow members Turkey and Greece, and stepped in to ease the maritime row which had been escalating since early June amid signs of increasing militarisation in early September.
- In September France, Germany and the United Kingdom filed a joint note verbale with the United Nations in New York, rejecting China’s sweeping claims over the South China Sea. The note verbale stated that China’s claims to “historic rights” over the South China Sea do not comply with international law and provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
- In October Albania and Greece agreed to resolve the maritime border dispute between the two countries through the International Court of Justice.
- Also in October, the Maldives affirmed that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) did not possess the jurisdiction to investigate the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives.
- Armenia and Azerbaijan were in renewed conflict over disputed territory and fighting broke out in the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed ethnic Armenian territory surrounded by Azerbaijan territory.
- In October the EU said it could impose sanctions on Turkey over “provocations and pressures” in a row with Greece over energy resources and maritime borders. Also Greece finalized plans to extend a wall along its northeast border with Turkey, over concerns that migrants may try to stage mass crossings into the European Union country.
- In November, Egypt and Greece agreed to expand their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) agreement in the Eastern Mediterranean to allow greater cooperation and restore balance and security in the region.
- Also in November military talks between India and China started at Chushul in Eastern Ladakh to resolve the ongoing border dispute and de-escalation of forces on both sides.
- The Joint Boundary Demarcation Commission between Sudan and South Sudan met in Khartoum in November to continue the latest round of negotiations aimed at defining their shared border.
- In November Israel and Lebanon, although still technically at war, completed a third round of talks around their disputed maritime border and the offshore hydrocarbon exploration rights that come with it.
- In December, the maritime border talks were postponed due to differences, and U.S. mediators will talk to both sides separately in the future. In December, Estonia erected a barbed-wire fence along an 8-kilometer section of its border with Russia in the first instalment of its three-year border infrastructure project.
- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was due to hold public proceedings on the question of the Court’s jurisdiction in the case concerning the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela). The hearing had been due to take place between 23-27 March, however due to the COVID pandemic, the hearing was postponed until June and finally concluded in December. In December, the court found that it has jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed originally by Guyana on 29 March 2018 in so far as it concerns the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 and the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute between Guyana and Venezuela.
- Nepal-India field survey teams continued to maintain and repair border pillars and also to erect disapppeared pillars in its previous spots according to the established co-ordinates. But the progress has not met the set target.
- There was a border issue in the Nepalese frontier of Humla Limi Namkha area with China since September 18, 2020, as the frontier inhabitants raised the issue.Mminister for foreign affairs of Nepal told the newsmen on September 23, 2020 that the Chinese has built the buildings on their frontier, located on the other side of Namkha rural municipality of Humla district of Nepal. However, the local inhabitants are not satisfied and asked the government to make further investigation.
Source: Borderlines Newsletter, Issue-19, Spring 2021: Page-3 and other materials
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