Freedom of Navigation…or lack thereof

It wasn’t until near the end of the Obama Administration when the U.S. Navy was given permission to conduct Freedom Of Navigation Operations (FONOP.)  FONOP is intended to conduct patrols which challenge territorial claims in disputed seas (ocean.)  For years, the White House had denied the U.S. Navy’s U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) requests for FONOPs.   As recently as February, PACOM requested a FONOP to sail within 12 nautical miles of the Scaborough Shoal where Chinese control edges on the 12 miles of reef (which they consider Chinese island territory) within the Philippines’ economic zone.

At this point, China exclaims the South China Sea is fundamentally under their sovereignty with a 200-mile exclusive economic zone all themselves.

Is it too little too late now with the Scaborough Shoal reef now teaming with Chinese control?   Some of the strategic initiatives for having a world class Navy presences is the preservation of global economic prosperity (including South China Sea natural gas and fisheries) while at the same time ensuring threats to our national security can be mitigated much sooner than if they were to progress to becoming a domestic issue.

Under the new White House administration, we’ll soon see what the meddle of the Trump Administration is capable or willing to do to protect our allies’ economic freedoms.