US to continue Freedom of Navigation Operations

October 29, 2018

The United States will continue with its Freedom of Navigation Operations in international waters anywhere in the world, including the  South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

“They are part of the global commons which is the foundation for free navigation through those international waters where we will operate and sail and fly or enter wherever international law allows,” said US Navy chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson in a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo Monday.

Richardson met with AFP chief of staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., and Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad to discuss the Philippine military's modernization program before the briefing.

Despite the recent incident where a Chinese warship nearly collided with a US warship in the South China Sea , Richardson said the US program will proceed.

Richardson said the US has been in the region for seven decades and has no intention of leaving the area which he described as “very important to the entire world.”

“We will continue to progress this program...and that is a worldwide program… we do dozens of these ops (operations) around the world to indicate our position for a sort of illegitimate maritime claims.. maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law,” Richardson stressed.

“We will continue to be present and continue to advocate for freedom of navigation through international waters. This is an important of the global commons,” Richardson said.

He said the US and Chinese navies have been observing a code called CUES (Code for Unplanned Sea Encounters on Sea).

“It is a methodology agreed to by both navies whereby when we encounter each other on the high seas that we behave in predictable ways to avoid any kind of tactical miscalculation that may quickly escalate to something more,” Richardson said. DMS