Department of Defense Report to Congress Annual Freedom of Navigation Report Fiscal Year 2017 Pursuant to Section 1275 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 The estimated cost of report or study for the Department of Defense is approximately $13,000 in Fiscal Years 2017-2018. This includes $50 in expenses and $13,000 in DoD labor. Generated on 2017Dec13 RefID: 7-4B67E96 December 31, 2017 Background: The U.S. Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program was formally established in 1979 and consists of a two-pronged complementary strategy to maintain the global mobility of U.S. forces and unimpeded commerce by protesting and challenging attempts by coastal States to unlawfully restrict access to the seas. • • The Department of State (DOS) leads the first prong by diplomatically protesting foreign laws, regulations, or other claims of coastal States that are inconsistent with international law (called “excessive maritime claims”). The Department of Defense (DoD) leads a second prong that complements DOS protests by conducting operational challenges against excessive maritime claims. FON operations (FONOPs) support the longstanding U.S. national interest of freedom of the seas. While not a defined term under international law, DoD uses “freedom of the seas” to mean all of the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace, including for military ships and aircraft, guaranteed to all nations under international law. DoD ensures freedom of the seas by preserving the global mobility of U.S. forces and unimpeded commerce through comprehensive, regular, and routine FONOPs worldwide. As President Reagan stated in the U.S. Oceans Policy (1983), the United States “will exercise and assert its rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea on a worldwide basis in a manner that is consistent with the balance of interests” reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention. Some coastal States assert excessive maritime claims that, if left unchallenged, could impinge on the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all States under international law. As stated in the 1983 U.S. Oceans Policy, the United States “will not…acquiesce in unilateral acts of other states designed to restrict the rights and freedom of the international community.” DoD challenges excessive maritime claims asserted by a wide variety of coastal States including allies, partners, and other nations on a worldwide basis to maintain global mobility of U.S. forces. The Program includes both planned FON assertions (i.e., operations that have the primary purpose of challenging excessive maritime claims) and other FON-related activities (i.e., operations that have some other primary purpose, but have a secondary effect of challenging excessive maritime claims). Activities conducted by DoD under the FON Program are deliberately planned, legally reviewed, properly approved, and conducted with professionalism. Annual Report: Each year, DoD releases an unclassified summarized FON Report identifying the coastal States and excessive maritime claims that are challenged by U.S. forces. The FON Report also includes general geographic information to transparently demonstrate non-acquiescence in excessive maritime claims while still maintaining operational security of U.S. military forces. Below is a summary of excessive maritime claims that were challenged by DoD operational assertions and activities during the period of 2 October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017, in order to preserve the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations by international law. For a complete list of all coastal States making excessive maritime claims, as well as the years those claims were challenged by U.S. forces under the FON Program, see the DoD Maritime Claims Reference Manual (available online at www.jag.navy.mil/organization/code_10_mcrm.htm): Freedom of Navigation Challenges Fiscal Year 2017 Claimant Albania Excessive Maritime Claims Geographic Location Prior authorization required for foreign warships to enter the territorial sea (TTS) Adriatic Sea Excessive straight baselines Adriatic Sea Algeria Prior authorization required for passage of warships in the TTS Cambodia Excessive straight baselines Gulf of Thailand * Excessive straight baselines Paracel Islands Mediterranean Sea * Jurisdiction over airspace above the exclusive South China Sea economic zone (EEZ) and East China Sea * Restriction on foreign aircraft flying through an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) without the intent to enter national airspace East China Sea * Domestic law criminalizing survey activity by foreign entities in the EEZ South China Sea Prior permission required for innocent passage of foreign military ships through the TTS Paracel Islands * Actions/statements that indicate a claim to a TTS around features not so entitled Spratly Islands Croatia Prior notification required for foreign warships to exercise innocent passage in the TTS Adriatic Sea Ecuador * Actions/statements that indicate prior notification or permission is required for State aircraft to conduct overflight of EEZ Pacific Ocean India * Prior consent required for military exercises or maneuvers in the EEZ Indian Ocean China 3 Indonesia Iran Malaysia Maldives Malta * Limits on archipelagic sea lane passage through normal routes used for international navigation Java Sea * Asserts that only Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are entitled to the right of transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz Strait of Hormuz * Prohibition on foreign military activities and practices in the EEZ Persian Gulf * Prior authorization required for nuclearpowered ships to enter the territorial sea Strait of Malacca * Military exercises or maneuvers in EEZ requires prior consent South China Sea * Prior authorization required for foreign ships to enter the EEZ * Passage by foreign warships through the TTS Mediterranean Sea subject to prior consent or prior notification Excessive straight baselines Montenegro Oman Adriatic Sea * Prior permission required for innocent passage of foreign military ships through the TTS Arabian Sea * Requirement for innocent passage through the Strait of Hormuz, an international strait Strait of Hormuz Philippines * Claims archipelagic waters as internal waters Sri Lanka Mediterranean Sea Prior notification required for passage of foreign warships through the TTS Excessive straight baselines Slovenia Indian Ocean Gulf of Oman Sulu Sea Prior notification required for passage through the TTS by foreign military vessels Adriatic Sea Foreign military vessels required to confine innocent passage to designate sea lanes in the TTS Adriatic Sea Prior consent required for foreign warship to enter or pass through the TTS Indian Ocean Claims a security jurisdiction in the contiguous zone (CZ) Indian Ocean 4 Taiwan * Prior notification required for foreign military or government vessels to enter the TTS Tunisia Excessive straight baselines Venezuela * Prior permission for overflight of EEZ or in the Flight Identification Region (FIR) Caribbean Sea * Prior notification required for foreign warships to enter the TTS Paracel Islands Vietnam Excessive straight baselines Yemen * Prior authorization required for passage through the TTS by foreign warships Paracel Islands Gulf of Tunis South China Sea Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Note: * designates multiple challenges to the excessive maritime claim during the reporting period. 5