170. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Eagleburger) to Secretary of State Shultz1
SUBJECT
- Law of the Sea
You have recently received a proposed “action plan” on Law of the Sea (LOS)2 which calls for direct Presidential involvement in trying to get our allies to stay out of the LOS Convention. My own strong feeling is that the President should not spend his political capital on this issue at present for three reasons:
—There are too many other things on the plate (e.g., sanctions, steel, grain, arms control); neither our LOS interests nor our other interests will be helped by adding further to the existing load.
—We have not come up, even in our own minds, with a clear conception of what an “alternate regime” will look like. Ideally it would maintain all of those aspects of the LOS Convention which we do not oppose (e.g., navigation and overflight rights, fishing, continental shelf, territorial waters, pollution control, etc.), while writing new rules for deep seabed mining which would suit us. At this point, we have barely addressed the legal and political implications of such an effort, and to drive it with Presidential horsepower now seems premature at best.
—It won’t work anyway and it’s not worth the cost. Most of our allies have already said that they do not intend to oppose the LOS Convention. Several have voiced serious problems with some parts of it, but on balance believe that being a part of the international regime is preferable to being outside it. Besides disagreeing on substance, they disagree on procedures and feel that we did not consult adequately and showed unnecessary haste in announcing that we would not sign.
The action plan also recommends that we send a “special presidential envoy” to meet at high levels with allied governments. His objective would be to urge others to defer a decision on signing the Convention and to keep open the option of joining us in an “alternate regime” later. I think this is a good idea and, depending on how his instructions are written, the emissary could help in the consultation process and [Page 496] in formulating our future policy steps. I think Jim Buckley would be an ideal envoy. He has dealt with LOS since the early days of the Administration, he has outstanding political sense, and he knows the Europeans.
- Source: Department of State, Marine Law and Policy Division, Subject and Country Files, Law of the Sea, 1982–1983, Lot 85D105, Law of the Sea—6. Confidential. There is no indication that Shultz saw the memorandum.↩
- In an undated memorandum to Shultz, Horner submitted a draft action plan. A stamped notation, dated August 3, indicates that Shultz saw it. (Reagan Library, Papers of George P. Shultz, Law of the Sea)↩
- Eagleburger initialed “LSE” above his typed signature.↩