February 23, 2019
Are Freedom of Navigation Operations in East Asia Enough?
Are periodic cruises through waters where a coastal state claims rights and prerogatives beyond those codified by treaty enough to safeguard maritime freedom?
by James Holmes
The question is a hardy perennial among those who hold forth about maritime strategy in Asia: are “freedom of navigation†operations enough? Are periodic cruises through waters where a coastal state claims rights and prerogatives beyond those codified by treaty enough to safeguard maritime freedom?
Answer: freedom-of-navigation operations are necessary but not sufficient guarantors of “freedom of the sea,†the nearly limitless liberty to use the sea for mercantile and military pursuits, and of the liberal system of seagoing trade and commerce it underwrites.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/are-freedom-navigation-operations-east-asia-enough-45257