World
Vietnam, the UNCLOS Tribunal, and the Latest U.S. FONOP in the South China Sea
Last Friday, on the heels of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declaring his “separation from the United States” during a visit to China, the USS Decatur conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Julian Ku has written about this operation here. The Paracels are currently occupied by China and also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan (though not the Philippines). As Julian describes, the apparent purpose of the U.S. FONOP was to challenge China’s “straight baselines” around the entire Paracel Islands group, which China publicly declared in 1996 and the legality of which the United States has long contested. Reuters and the Navy ...
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