MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile responds to UK Antarctic seabed claim presentation

Van Klaveren expects Britain to act in conformity with the Antartic Treaty

Chile's Foreign Ministry responded cautiously Thursday evening to reported plans by the British government to claim vast areas of sea territory around Antarctica. The UK apparently will base its claim on the UN's Law of the Sea Convention in a submission to the organization's commission on the limits of the continental shelf.

"The Ministry for Foreign Relations makes clear its legitimate concern that this work [Britain's proposed claim] is done in full conformity with the principles of the Antarctic Treaty" said Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Alberto van Klaveren. "The Ministry for Foreign Relations makes public the reservations of Chile's government, especially with regard to article IV of the Antarctic Treatyâ€Ã‚¦ Thus a presentation to the above committee [The UN commission on the limits of the continental shelf], or through other means, will not affect our country's rights over said territory and her surrounding seas, nor will it imply any recognition by the country with respect to any such claim that may be forthcoming. â€Ã‚¦ The Ministry for Foreign Relations reiterates its full compliance with the aims of the Antarctic Treaty and trusts that those aims will continue to govern the conduct of all signatory nations". The statement comes after the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed Wednesday that it was preparing a claim to one million square kilometers of seabed off the coast of Antarctica, for submission to the UN in advance of a May 2009 deadline. The commission is allowing claims for seabed territory up to 350 kilometers around a country's coastline if belonging to the continental shelf. The British submission will be based on their claim to a sector of Antarctica. Chile and Argentina, however, both claim sovereignty over parts of the same sector. Any dispute between the countries was supposedly ended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Article 4 of the treaty does not recognize, dispute or establish any claims to territorial sovereignty and says that no new claims shall be made while the treaty is in force. A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office told the BBC the move was a "safeguard for the future." She went on to say that "It would be a claim in name only; we wouldn't act because doing any mineral exploitation contravenes the [Antarctic] Treaty." Exploitation of suspected oil and gas reserves beneath the Antarctic Sea is unfeasible with current technology. The Santiago Times