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·Annual Report 

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and the Congress 

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Les Aspin 

Secretary of Defense 

January 1994 
I 

FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION 

Appendix G 

FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION 

The United States remains committed to the principle that the world's seas must be open to all nations. The 

armed forces continue to be the instrument for the United States to exercise and assert its navigation and 

overflight rights and freedoms consistent with the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. As a matter of policy, the 

United States will not acquiesce in unilateral acts of other states that unlawfully restrict the rights and freedoms 

of the international community in navigation and overflight and other related high seas uses. When nations do 

not exercise these rights, the international community may come to accept claims constraining use of the seas 

as binding. Accordingly, it is necessary for maritime nations, such as the United States, to protest excessive 

claims through diplomatic channels and to exercise their navigation and overflight rights in the disputed 

regions. The United States has accepted this responsibility as an important tenet of national policy. Therefore, 

the Department of Defense maintains an active Freedom of Navigation program. From October 1, 1992, to 

September 30, 1993, Freedom of Navigation assertions were conducted against the following countries with 

maritime claims contrary to international law. 

Country 

Burma* 

Cambodia* 

China* 

Djibouti* 

Ecuador* 

Egypt 

India* 

Iran* 

Maldives* 

Mauritania 

Nicaragua• 

Oman* 

Peru* 

Philippines 

Somalia* 

Sudan* 

Sweden 

Excessive Claims Challenged 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nautical mile (nm) territorial sea 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea; excessive straight baselines 

Prior permission for warships to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

Excess straight baselines 

200 nm territorial sea 

Prior notification for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

Prior notification for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea; historic claim to Gulf of Mannar 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

Excess straight baselines 

200 nm territorial sea (and overflight clearance); 25 nm security zone 

Excessive straight baselines; recognizes only innocent passage, not transit passage, through international 

straits 

200 nm territorial sea 

Excessive straight baselines; claims archipelagic waters as internal waters 

200 nm territorial sea 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

Prior permission for warship to enter 12 nm territorial sea 

*Denotes that Freedom of Navigation assertion was also conducted in FY 1992. 

In addition, military craft frequently conducted routine transits on , over, and under international straits, 

such as the Strait of Gibraltar and Strait of Hormuz, and through archipelagic sea lanes, such as those of 

Indonesia and the Philippines, in accordance with the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.