Dr John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive, IISS
We can take one, maybe two questions if they are very brief.
Major General (Retd) Yao Yunzhu, Director Emeritus, Center on China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science, People's Liberation Army
Just one specific question, because we are talking about rule-based international order and regional order. I am curious to know what international rules are the freedom of navigation operations based by the United States. What kind of rules should be applied here? Because, to my understanding, about 50 countries in the world have made national laws asking for prior notification of consent when foreign military ships enters their territorial waters, but the US has been conducting freedom of navigation operations to challenge these kind of excessive maritime rights since 1979 and the United States is not even a party member to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. So what should we take as rules relating to this kind of military so-called freedom of navigation operations? Because for the last three years the US Navy has been challenging China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia – also including Japan, India – by conducting freedom of navigation. It is not only against China. I am just curious to know what are the rules.
Hiroyuki Akita, Senior and Editorial Staff Writer, Nikkei Asian Review
My question is about North Korea. You said that if there is a war in North Korea it is going to be a tragedy on an unbelievable scale. My question is, do you think that the US will act if necessary pre-emptively – militarily – without giving warning to the foreigners living in South Korea? Because it is said that there is going to be several hundred thousand foreigners, including American citizens, living in the Korean Peninsula. I wonder if an option could be to act pre-emptively without pre-warning, if necessary, to those people to evacuate. Thank you.
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