288 
THE TERRITORIAL SEA 
When Malta’s Arvid Pardo reintroduced the law of the sea question 
to the United Nations in 1967, the Soviet delegation responded cau- 
tiously to his quest for a new international oceanic regime. In debate 
before the First Committee, the U.S.S.R. stressed that the proper 
course was one of only “‘coordination’”’ among states and that there 
should be no “‘undue haste in the case of the preparation of interna- 
tional legal principles.”? The year before, 1966, the Soviet Union 
had informally circulated a proposal for a new law of the sea con- 
ference but only to “improve” the 1958 Geneva conventions where 
no fixed limits had been set for either the territorial sea or the Con- 
tinental Shelf. Unlike Pardo’s proposal, the Soviet initiative was not 
aimed to make new ocean rules; rather it sought to consolidate the 
traditional order. The U.S.S.R. did vote in favor of creating an Ad 
Hoc Seabed Committee (on which it held 1 of 35 seats), but did 
so considerably more reluctantly than most states.2 The Ad Hoc 
Seabed Committee met in 1968 and the Soviet Union led the way 
in Opposing new ocean regulations if they in any way might “prejudice 
the interests of states, coastal or otherwise, or endanger the freedom 
of navigation, fishing, and so forth, on the high seas.” 4 
The work before the Ad Hoc Seabed Committee proved so complex 
and important that the General Assembly decided in December 1968 
to create in its place a 42-member Permanent Seabed Committee. 
The vote was 112 favor, none against, and 7 abstaining (the U.S.S.R., 
Byelorussia, Ukraine, Hungary, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, and Cam- 
bodia). The principal Soviet objection to the formation of the new 
committee was that there were too few Soviet-bloc seats.* The 
U.S.S.R, however, retained its seat and throughout the Permanent 
Seabed Committee’s meetings between 1969 and 1973 continued to 
insist that the “12- mile limit was in keeping with modern require- 
ments.’’® At the Caracas session of the Law of the Sea Conference 
in 1974, the Soviet Union joined with Bulgaria, East Germany, and 
Poland to present “‘Draft Articles on the Territorial Sea,’’ where Arti- 
cle 2 provided: 
Fach State has the right to determine the breadth of its territori- 
al sea within a maximum limit of 12 nautical miles, measured 
from the baselines determined in articles . . . of this Convention, 
and subject to the provisions of articles . . . concerning straits 
used for international navigation.’ 
There are no signs that the Soviet Union is forsaking its support 
for a maximum 12-mile limit for territorial seas.® 
About 30 states, led by some from Latin America, now advocate 
territorial limits beyond 12 miles, even up to a 200-mile width. 
200-mile territorial seas would encompass over 30 percent of the 
oceans. The Baltic, North, and Mediterranean seas would be entirely 
overlapped by zones of national sovereignty. Although all the maritime 
~ = UN Doc. A/C.1/PV.1525, at 3-4 (1967). 
*5 UN Monthly Chronicle 1, at 28-34 (1968). 
* A/AC.135/SR.11, at 3 (1968) 
5 6 UN Monthly Chronicle 1, at 56-62 (1969). 
® A/AC.138/SR.56, at 152 (1971). 
7 A/CONF.62/C.2/L.26 (1974). 
* N. Belov, Za Rubezhom, Mar. 20, 1975, at 6, in FBIS: U.S.S.R., Mar. 28, 1975, at Al. 
