National security leaders worry about U.S. failure to ratify Law of the Sea treaty

R/I ~ AA, (old news 3/24)

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Hundreds of former national security, military and political leaders are calling on the Senate to ratify the United Nations’ Law of the Sea, warning last week in a letter to lawmakers that China is taking advantage of America’s absence from the treaty.

Countries that ratified the Law of the Sea treaty are now rushing to stake claims on the international seabed for deep sea mining. At stake are trillions of dollars worth of strategic minerals strewn on the ocean floor, essential for the next generation of electronics. China has five exploration sites, 90,000 square miles –the most of any country. The U.S. has none. It is blocked from the race because of the Senate’s refusal to ratify the Law of the Sea.

“We are not only not at the table, but we’re off the field,” lawyer John Bellinger, who was a legal adviser to former President George W. Bush, said. “The United States probably has got the most to gain of any country in the world if it were party to the Law of the Sea Convention, and conversely, we actually probably have the most to lose by not being part of it.”

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Article URL : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-security-economic-concerns-us-law-of-the-sea-treaty-60-minutes/