On the conclusion of the operation, USS Halsey exited the extreme declare and continued operations within the South China Sea. This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful makes use of of the ocean acknowledged in worldwide legislation by difficult the restrictions on harmless passage imposed by the Folks’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam and in addition by difficult the PRC’s declare to straight baselines enclosing the Paracel Islands.
Illegal and sweeping maritime claims within the South China Sea pose a severe menace to the liberty of the seas, together with the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free commerce and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of financial alternative for South China Sea littoral nations.
The US challenges extreme maritime claims world wide whatever the id of the claimant. Customary worldwide legislation mirrored within the 1982 Regulation of the Sea Conference protects sure rights, freedoms and lawful makes use of of the ocean loved by all nations. The worldwide neighborhood has an everlasting position in preserving the liberty of the seas, which is crucial to international safety, stability, and prosperity.
The US upholds freedom of navigation for all nations as a precept. So long as some international locations proceed to assert and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority underneath worldwide legislation, the USA will proceed to defend the rights and freedoms of the ocean assured to all. No member of the worldwide neighborhood ought to be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.
The PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam every declare sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. In violation of worldwide legislation, all three claimants require both permission or advance notification earlier than a navy vessel or warship engages in “harmless passage” by way of the territorial sea. Beneath customary worldwide legislation as mirrored within the Regulation of the Sea Conference, the ships of all States – together with their warships – take pleasure in the precise of harmless cross by way of the territorial sea. The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for harmless passage is illegal. By participating in harmless passage with out giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the claimants, the USA challenged these illegal restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The US demonstrated that harmless passage just isn’t topic to such restrictions.
The US additionally challenged the PRC’s 1996 declaration of straight baselines encompassing the Paracel Islands. No matter which claimant has sovereignty over these islands, it’s illegal to attract straight baselines across the Paracel Islands of their entirety. Customary worldwide legislation as mirrored within the Regulation of the Sea Conference is each clear and complete relating to the circumstances underneath which States can depart from “regular” baselines. The PRC-claimed straight baselines violate customary worldwide legislation mirrored in Article 7 of the Regulation of the Sea Conference. Moreover, worldwide legislation doesn’t allow continental State, just like the PRC, to determine baselines round total dispersed island teams. With these baselines, the PRC has tried to assert extra inside waters, territorial sea, unique financial zone, and continental shelf than it’s entitled to underneath worldwide legislation.
U.S. forces function within the South China Sea every day, as they’ve for greater than a century. They routinely function in shut coordination with like-minded allies and companions that share our dedication to uphold a free and open worldwide order that promotes safety and prosperity. All of our operations are carried out safely, professionally, and in accordance with customary worldwide legislation. The operations show that the USA will fly, sail, and function wherever worldwide legislation allows-regardless of the placement of extreme maritime claims and no matter present occasions.
