N.Z. NOTE TO INDONESIA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28490, 21 January 1958, Page 8

N.Z. NOTE TO INDONESIA

Claim To Waters Around Islands

(New Zealand Press Associatton) WELLINGTON, Jan. 19.

The Prime Minister (Mr Nash) announced today that the New Zealand Government had informed the Government of Indonesia that New Zealand did not accept the recent Indonesian claim to exercise sovereignty over the waters surrounding the islands of Indonesia.

The following note was delivered to the Indonesian Government on January 11 by the United Kingdom Ambassador in Jakarta: “The New Zealand Government is disturbed by reports in the press that the Government of Indonesia intends to exercise sovereignty over all waters around, between and connecting the islands or parts of islands belonging to the Indonesian archipelago and over a territorial sea with a width of 12 nautical miles, measured from straight base lines connecting the outermost points of the islands of the Republic of Indonesia. “The Government of New Zealand could not accept the assertion of such a claim which would be contrary, to well-established principles of international law. “It is reported that the Indonesian Government will explain its position at the forthcoming conference on the law of the sea. The New Zealand Government notes that the Indonesian claim is not in accordance with the International Law Commission’s draft articles which will form the basis for discussion at the conference, and hopes that the Government of Indonesia will not take any steps which would make more difficult the task of the conference in reaching agreement among all nations on the law of the sea.”