freedom of navigation

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a principle of customary international law and a cornerstone of UNCLOS providing that ships of all states have the right to sail through international waters — the high seas — without interference, and to exercise innocent passage through the territorial seas of coastal states so long as they do not threaten the peace, good order, or security of the coastal state; freedom of navigation has been fundamental to global trade since the age of sail, enabling the circulation of goods across the world's oceans without the permission of every coastal state through whose adjacent waters ships must pass; the United States conducts Freedom of Navigation Operations — FONOPs — in disputed waters, including in the South China Sea, to challenge what it regards as excessive maritime claims that would restrict navigation rights; the principle is contested in practice by states that seek to extend control over adjacent waters beyond what international law permits