The main thing that first pulled me into this article to read more about was the fact that in class we have been discussing maritime territory and rules that go along with it like with China and their new “man-made islands”. With Morocco, they have taken waters right off the coast of Western Sahara and made it apart of their maritime territory with two laws allowing them to do so. They are saying that with these laws, they are legally allowed to gain control over a disputed Spanish territory. This has lead to tensions growing higher between Morocco and Spain, with Spain claiming they have no right to extend their maritime into their waters. Both countries already have unresolved issues because of both of them exploring oil in nearby areas. Spain’s foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez is set to meet with Morocco’s Rabat to discuss the issues further. However, Spain’s government has reminded Morocco that during mid December, that the expansion and limitation of maritime borders was governed by “mutual agreement”. Morocco deliberately going into Spain’s maritime borders with no real communication with Spain beforehand, implies to me that Morocco knew it would be controversial and most likely not able to pass the laws so they did it first before communicating it through. I believe that Morocco should not just be able to come out and say that because they created two new laws in their country, that they are now able to overlap and take another countries maritime borders. I believe there needs to be an agreement and clear communication between the countries, that the Spain government mentioned to Morocco. However, with maritime borders, there is also a lot of disputes and other issues that need to be handled that play into the country’s economy as a whole. But with what I know with the Morocco and Spain border issue, Spain should be allowed to interject and have a say in Morocco expanding into their maritime borders.
