Innocent Passage of Warships

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (losc) is well known as the “Constitution for the Oceans”; however, the passage of foreign warships through the territorial sea of a coastal State is not clearly addressed. All East Asian littoral States (except North Korea and Cambodia) are parties to the losc but their practices regarding the innocent passage of warships are different. This article provides an analysis of the innocent passage regime of the losc, the practice of East Asian littoral States regarding the innocent passage of warships as well as factors that have influenced the trends in their practices.