b 31
Strategic Vision vol. 12, no. 55 (April, 2023)
US FONOPs and the Taiwan Strait FONOPs remain a valuable tool for US in safeguarding Taiwan Strait peace Tom Yang
T
he US Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer the USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait April 16 in a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) that the US Navy has begun referring to as “routine” transits. That the US Navy itself has begun to publicize these specific individual operations is an indication of its willingness to demonstrate its commitment to maintaining stability in the region, and that the best way to do so is not to give in to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) increasingly bellicose claims in the region’s bodies of water. This follows the sentiment, enunciated in the US-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement issued after last year’s summit, underscoring “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
It is therefore worth revisiting what FONOPs are, and why they are so important. First initiated in 1979, these deployments are designed to exercise the right of any vessel to navigate freely in contested or dangerous bodies of water. They have since become a valuable tool that the United States uses to challenge various excessive maritime claims and to serve the US interest in upholding international law. In conducting these operations, Washington is demonstrating its resolve to “fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” according to statement by the US Navy following a South China Sea (SCS) transit by the USS Milius. Critics of the US FONOPs point
photo: Ruben Reed The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) conduct integrated air wing operations.
Tom Yang is a captain in the ROC Air Force who studies in the Graduate Institute of International Security of the ROC National Defense University. He can be reached for comment at Jumperjoke199@gmail.com