The 2008 Bangladesh–Myanmar naval standoff was a naval standoff between the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

and the

Myanmar Navy The Myanmar Navy ( my, တပ်မတော် (ရေ); ) is the naval warfare branch of the armed forces of Myanmar. With 24,000 personnel on duty, the navy operates more than 150 vessels. Prior to 1988, the navy was small, and its role in c ...

over disputed territory in the northeastern

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

. The standoff ended after diplomatic negotiations. In 2012, the two countries resolved their maritime boundary disputes at an international tribunal.

Background

The Bay of Bengal has large untapped reserves of oil and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. In November 2008, Myanmar allowed the South Korean company

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

to explore the seabed in an area 50 nautical miles SW of

St. Martin's Island Saint Martin Island ( bn, সেন্টমার্টিন দ্বীপ) is a small island (area only 3 km2) in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and fo ...

. The area was contested between Bangladesh and Myanmar as part of their respective exclusive economic zones.

Standoff

Citing

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

, Bangladesh asserted that Myanmar should not allow any kind of activities in this debated territories till a solution. After Bangladeshi warnings were not heeded, the

deployed three warships in the area, including the , and . Myanmar deployed at least two naval vessels.

Negotiations

The Government of Bangladesh said Myanmar was operating well within disputed territory. The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Towhid Hossain summoned the Myanmar ambassador and later himself flew to then capital of myanmar

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

with a team of Bangladeshi diplomats.

Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is a former Bangladeshi Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-2009), a position he held after a long career in diplomacy and the Civil Service, starting in Pakistan in 1969, thereafter transferring to Bangladesh after the ...

, the interim

Foreign Minister of Bangladesh The Minister of Foreign Affairs ( bn, পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী; ''Pororashtrya Montri''; or simply the Foreign Minister) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the People's Republic of Banglades ...

, vowed that his country would protect its sovereignty, territory and national assets with "all necessary measures". There was no statement from Myanmar.

Withdrawal

On 7 November 2008, it was reported that Myanmar withdrew its vessels and Daewoo began to remove its equipment from the area.

Arbitration

In 2009, Bangladesh submitted its claims to the

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. Both countries came to terms at the tribunal in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Bangladesh-Myanmar naval standoff Military history of Bangladesh Military history of Myanmar