Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2021 to Question 148829 on British Indian Ocean Territory, what his policy is on the application to the UK of the principles and rules (a) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and (b) referenced in the UK Note Verbale (UK NV No 162/20), dated 16 September 2020, to the United Nations.
The United Kingdom is fully committed to upholding the rules of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and securing the implementation of its rights and obligations. This commitment was reaffirmed in our statement to the UN General Assembly on the adoption of the UNGA Resolution (A/RES/75/239) on the oceans and law of the sea on 8 December 2020. The Government has placed a paper setting out our legal position on the issues in the South China Sea in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament and we reaffirmed our position in a Note Verbale (UK NV No 162/20) to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on 16 September 2020.