Our little landlocked valley has a lot to gain from peace and global stabilty.
Maritime security in East Asia is a hard issue with serious flashpoints in the South China Sea which China claims is a core interest and the East China Sea between China and Japan. The US has asserted a ‘national interest’ in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
The ASEAN defence ministers meeting in Hanoi have agreed to establish a matitime security expert working group co-chaired by Australia and Malaysia. It should seek measures that might prevent tensions escalating over conflicting claims to offshore sovdereignty different interpretations of the law of the sea and managing the risks of greater naval activity in the narrow seas of the region.
Rights and duties in an exclusive economic zone are key points of disagreement. The US believes surveys and research conducted in an EEZ for military purposes are high-seas freedoms of navigation available in such a zone and outside the jurisdiction of the coastal state. China India and some other Asian countries have different views. The US also talks of the South China Sea as being international waters. But this isn’t the case. The South China Sea is comprised of the EEZs of the various littoral countries which have significant rights and duties in the sea.
Despite recent US statements China isn’t challenging general freedom of navigation in the South China Sea ony the right of other countries to conduct research and surveys in it EEZ.