Instability increases when long-standing agreements not observed: Jaishankar

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday indirectly chided China by asserting that any disregard for arduously negotiated regimes like United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982 is "naturally disturbing" and that instability also increases when long-standing agreements are no longer observed.

"As we gaze at the Indian Ocean, the challenges besetting the world are on full display there. At one extremity, we see conflict, threats to maritime traffic, piracy and terrorism. At the other, there are challenges to international law, concerns about freedom of navigation and overflights, and of safeguarding of sovereignty and of independence. Any disregard for arduously negotiated regimes like UNCLOS, 1982 is naturally disturbing," Jaishankar said in his keynote address at the seventh Indian Ocean Conference in Perth.

He said, "In between, a range of transnational and non-traditional threats present themselves, largely visible in a spectrum of interconnected illegal activities. Instability also increases when long-standing agreements are no longer observed, with no credible justification to justify a change of stance. All of them, separately and together, make it imperative that there be greater consultation and cooperation among the states of the Indian Ocean."


The external affairs minister said contemporary concerns also extend to "grey areas" of various kinds, some of which may emanate from climate change and natural disasters.