Hawaii and its people should be among the first to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Hawaii has known what it was like to be under threat of invasion. The 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team fought for the freedom of the people of Europe in World War II. Hawaii also has a special reason to protest the Russian transgression of territorial boundaries. No, I am not only speaking of Russian forts established on Kauai in 1816. Rather, Soviet and Russian warships have been threatening Hawaiian waters for years.

As reported by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1981, Gov. George Ariyoshi objected to a Soviet submarine traveling in the channel waters between the islands of Maui and Hawaii, and wrote a letter of protest to U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Ariyoshi maintained the position that the major islands of the state and its intervening waters are subject to the International Law of Archipelagic Waters.

Article 46 of The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 treats “archipelago” as a group of islands, including parts of islands, interconnecting waters, and other natural features which are so closely interrelated that such islands, waters and other natural features form an intrinsic geographical, economic and political entity, or which historically have been regarded as such.

In his letter, Gov. Ariyoshi stated:

“As you know, the Archipelagic concept … holds that sovereignty cannot be effectively and solely conducted unless the waters between these islands are under the jurisdiction and control of that sovereign. Such is the case for the Islands of Hawaii … The good order, peace, and tranquility of our entire community are disrupted when incursions into these waters are made by ships of a foreign flag …”

American Military News reported that in January 2022, a Russian warship had been circling Hawaii for days. As recently as 2021, the Russian intelligence gathering ship Kareliya was 25 to 30 miles west of Kauai. This should be of concern to the people of Hawaii. Under the archipelagic concept, the Kareliya, as between Kauai, Niihau and the most eastern of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, would be within Hawaii.

Many have reasoned that since the channel waters were clearly part of the Hawaiian islands by the laws of Kamehameha III, this should be true of each succeeding government. Each would take the dominion of the preceding government. Thus, the channel waters were within the dominion of the Provisional Government in 1893, the Republic of Hawaii in 1894, and the Territory of Hawaii in 1900. Nonetheless, when Congress admitted Hawaii in 1959, the channel waters were excluded from the dominion of the state. The archipelagic claim was inconsistent with the more limited territorial waters claim of a continental nation.

However, Hawaii’s Constitutional Convention of 1978 changed the territorial description of the State of Hawaii by adding the single word “archipelagic” to the official boundaries of the state. In supporting the claim as to the archipelagic waters, delegate Larry Uyehara specifically noted that Hawaiian waters were being violated by other nations for military purposes. Delegate Yvonne Izu spoke of the importance of the channel waters for economic reasons. Delegate Kekoa Kaapu spoke of the special relationship of Native Hawaiians to the channel waters.

I would agree. Perhaps, the channel waters of the Hawaiian islands are the last Hawaiian place not claimed by the United States.

Hawaii has an interest in whether Russian warships are transiting our waters. All around the world cities, nations and people are protesting Russia’s invasion of the territorial boundaries of Ukraine. The people of Hawaii have a special reason to protest.

Williamson Chang is a law professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, William S. Richardson School of Law.