Sec. 1265. United States policy with respect to freedom of navigation operations and overflight beyond the territorial seas
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Congress makes the following findings: Since the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was inspired in part as a response to a tyrant who plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts and who wrote laws for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world , freedom of seas and promotion of international commerce have been core security interests of the United States. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States establishes enumerated powers for Congress, which include regulating commerce with foreign nations, punishing piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations, and providing and maintaining a Navy.
For centuries, the United States has maintained a commitment to ensuring the right to freedom of navigation for all law-abiding parties in every region of the world. In support of international law, the longstanding United States commitment to freedom of navigation and ensuring the free access to sea lanes to promote global commerce remains a core security interest of the United States. This is particularly true in areas of the world that are critical transportation corridors and key routes for global commerce, such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea, through which a significant portion of global commerce transits.
The consistent exercise of freedom of navigation operations and overflights by United States naval and air forces throughout the world plays a critical role in safeguarding the freedom of the seas for all lawful nations, supporting international law, and ensuring the continued safe passage and promotion of global commerce and trade. It is the policy of the United States to fly, sail, and operate throughout the oceans, seas, and airspace of the world wherever international law allows.
In furtherance of the policy set forth in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall— plan and execute a robust series of routine and regular naval presence missions and freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) throughout the world, including for critical transportation corridors and key routes for global commerce; execute, in such critical transportation corridors, routine and regular naval presence missions and maritime freedom of navigation operations throughout the year; in addition to the operations executed pursuant to paragraph (2), execute routine and regular maritime freedom of navigation operations throughout the year, in accordance with international law, including the use of expanded military options and maneuvers beyond innocent passage; and to the maximum extent practicable, execute freedom of navigation operations pursuant to this subsection with regional partner countries and allies of the United States.