It had been a longer than usual morning in Pyrena brought about by what had been referred to in the corridors as 'odd statements' by
Soleimani and
Heyra, if the circumstances weren't as severe or the stakes as high they would have been laughable. Still as requested the Viceregent
Emerson Ravenswood had assembled the newly appointed Imperial Council and spent most of the morning going through all the technicalities of the CFT, the view was crystal clear the CFT did not have a higher authority than the Fair Seas Concordat. With the final unanimous agreement of the council Emerson made his way to Evanthe's office and put the document on her desk.
"The report you asked for." Emerson said
In accordance with the request of the Empress the Viceregent has undertaken a swift review of the Treaty between the First Empire of Rokkenjima and the Heyran Republic (formerly the Conglomerate) known as the
CFT with a view to concluding whether it was compatible with Rokkenjiman foreign policy, in need of reform or whether it should be withdrawn from. This review included input from the Imperial Council and has their approval.
Summary of the CFTOn the face of it the CFT is a one sided agreement which appears to give numerous advantages to the Heyran Republic and disadvantages to Rokkenjima, there is notable inconsistency and ambiguity contained within it. The document does appear to have been signed by the Empress-Emerita as some sort of slight against East Moreland and Seaforth at the time, following the closure of the then QAMB, on that basis it would certainly appear that the Conglomerate as it was then took advantage of the Empress-Emerita and dangled two military bases in front of her in exchange for virtual carte blanche in other areas, this is obviously an unacceptable state of affairs and in need of urgent address.
The inconsistencies in the CFT are seen when comparing the terms of the base leases for the Queen Adriana and King Leopold bases. Under article II(b) of the CFT:
"The maintenance, personnel, supply, security and construction of such installations in the defined annexes are to be at the expenses of the First Empire. The maintenance personnel of the annexes is to be at least 70% from The Conglomerate nationality.
An annual fees of 300 000 000 USD is to be charged to the First Empire for the usage of such annexes."
As can be seen from the underlined phrase this article obligates Rokkenjima to in effect pay rent to Heyra for having a base there, which in of itself would not be unreasonable, however it becomes unreasonable when it is considered that the land lease of Cocytus does not see Heyra obligated in the same way despite the providing of a service by the Rokkenjiman police as per article V - "The Conglomerate agrees to let First Empire of Rokkenjima police forces, air, sea and ground, patrol freely within the respect of The Conglomerate legislations in Cocytus." so not only are Rokkenjiman police officers being asked to patrol around Cocytus but they also have to then enforce not Rokkenjiman Law but presumably Heyran Law, this is clearly a service being provided that there is no payment for and given the tone of the CFT this appears unacceptable.
Further concerns with the CFT are found in the rest of Article II and Article III
Article II(a) - "The definition of the annexe zone, plans and architecture are to be validated by The Conglomerate."
Concern: On the face of it reasonable but the word 'architecture' can be taken to imply certain things such as what a radar tower or dome can look like, what a jetty might look like, a drydock and so on. The point is there is a difference between looking good and being practical, and in military terms practicality is the superior point. Additionally the idea that Rokkenjima could potentially have to give the Heyran's detailed plans of what the inside of a military facility is going to look like does raise significant security concerns.
Article II(c) - "Provisionary exceptions may be made to the upper point on the number of vessels, tonnage and personnel, if authorised by The Conglomerate for no more than 10 days."
Concern: Does not define under what circumstances the exceptions may be made and a ten day authorisation is very arbitrary as history across Mundus shows the likely set of circumstances under which this might be asked for (humanitarian operations, combat operations etc) take substantially longer than ten days.
Article II(e) - "The Conglomerate reserve itself the right to use the military installations in emergency cases, such as one which may put in danger Human lives."
Concern: Very vague as the amount of circumstances that can qualify for this is a long one, a humanitarian operation puts lives at risk, a terrorist group seizing a vessel and holding the crew hostage puts lives at risk, a honeybadger getting loose on a cargo ship puts lives at risk. In fact Heyra could twist practically any arising situation and interpret it in a way that allows them to use the installations, which is likely to hinder the ability of Rokkenjima to effectively conduct operations, potentially expose sensitive Rokkenjiman equipment such as ICON to Heyra, potentially place Rokkenjiman ships at risk and ultimately cost lives rather than save them. In addition the stationing of Heyran assets on a Rokkenjiman base does raise the question of command position and who is ultimately the command authority to those Heyrans.
Article II(f) - "Coordination efforts will be took, for allowing The Conglomerate assets to be temporarily deployed on a military annexe for executing Article II e) and Article III in alignment with both the First Empire and The Conglomerate wills to cooperate on defense questions."
Concern: No definition of how long "temporarily" is and the concerns as noted in relation to Article II(e) would apply.
Further concern in relation to Article III - "In the sake of safety and security of passing goods and people through the Mhorish, Illumic, Krimeon and Kyne Seas, The Conglomerate and First Empire of Rokkenjima agree to anchor a long-standing cooperation for managing common patrols along exercises in the said regions for ensuring the neutrality of the maritime routes, along a direct connexion between both military headquarters to ensure proper communication."
Observations: This article seems to suggest that the four areas identified are in some way not secure in terms of trading routes. However the Illumic channel is most certainly the most secure waterway of Mundus and as has been demonstrated on several occasions East Moreland and Seaforth are perfectly capable of handling issues that arise there. The introduction of the 3RA's policy of MICA would extend this principle to the Mhorish, therefore it seems odd and surplus to requirements to suggest that such patrols in those areas are required. The Krimeon and Kyne are both very large bodies of water and that fact combined with already existing commitments that Rokkenjima has would appear to place a rather large burden on the IRN in respect of the CFT obligations, to the point where it could easily be considered that Rokkenjima would have to run on practically a war footing to achieve the numerous patrols required. Which does call into question the value of QAMB and whether the loss of the base, as would be the case in terminating the CFT, would be beneficial or detrimental for Rokkenjima. The Imperial Council believes this would be of benefit.
Compatibility of the CFT with Values Based PolicyRokkenjiman foreign policy is a values based policy seen in the signature of Rokkenjima to numerous international treaties such as the Fair Seas Concordat, Mundus Convention of Universal Rights, Uppsalla Convention, Outer Space Standards Convention and so on. In recent days and weeks we have seen the incompatibility of the CFT with these values we have seen rather than a private concern being raised a frankly insulting attack on Tytor by Heyra for what has been called a violation of the FSC when in truth no violation has yet taken place and whether any will is debatable. The continued attempted use of the CFT by Heyra as some sort of justification to prevent Rokkenjima taking any action, action which is in accordance with Rokkenjiman values and that Rokkenjima is entitled to take, clearly indicates if it were not already evident that the CFT is not compatible with Rokkenjima's values based foreign policy.
Conclusion and RecommendationsHaving considered the above concerns the following is concluded:
The CFT in its current form is not fit for purpose, it should never have been signed in that form and the only reason that can be deduced as to why it was signed like that is the judgement of the Empress-Emerita being clouded by anger. The amount of alterations required to the treaty to make it equitable are significant but achievable however the manner in which this treaty is used by Heyra to try and impose over international law is disturbing as is the manner in which they allow it to operate as such on their own soil.
Therefore the following recommendations are made:
1) the immediate withdrawal of Rokkenjima from the CFT, the treaty is incompatible with Rokkenjiman policy and is based around a false premise that Rokkenjima needs a military base in that area. Rokkenjima does not require a military base in the Illumic or Mhorish area, from a security point of view those areas are very well secured by the local nations.
2) As a consequence of recommendation 1 progress on QAMB construction to be discontinued and appropriate steps taken to ensure that the work done so far is demolished.
3) Communication to MICA and Seaforth
[1] to advise them of the withdrawal of QAMB and to negotiate terms under which Rokkenjiman ships may use ports in the Mhorish for resupply and leave as per port calls under the FSC, thus allowing some Rokkenjiman patrols to take place but in a collaborative manner and not in a manner where Rokkenjima is seen to impose itself as an Illumic or Mhorish power.
4) Notice be served to Heyra that the land lease for Cocytus is revoked.
5) A request be made to Rosa Shipyards to cancel the contract with Heyra found in Annex A of the CFT.
This concludes the requested report of the Empress by the Viceregent.
Signed
Emerson Ravenswood
Viceregent of Rokkenjima