In exchange, the compact states have conceded several controls to Washington, one of which is what U.S. officials call “strategic denial,” or the authority to prohibit the military forces of other countries from accessing the compact states. Although strategic denial is inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides all countries with the right of innocent passage in territorial waters and freedom of the high seas in exclusive economic zones, U.S. officials have insisted that it is their right to control the seas, land, and airspace of the compact states.

Ironically, the U.S. position contrasts sharply with its insistence, over Chinese protests, that the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard have the right to conduct so-called “freedom of navigation operations” in waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea.