Connecting between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the region is one of the most strategic maritime spaces in the world in terms of global trade, food and energy security and marine biodiversity as it contains the major sea lines of communication (SLOC), namely the Malacca, Singapore, and Lombok Straits and the South China Sea. [...] Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), the Indo- 1 The paper was developed from the presentation made during the session “Maritime Security and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific”, at the 2nd Spain-Thailand Forum, co-organised by International Studies Center, Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs and Casa Asia in Madrid on 20 June 2024. [...] To address the issue, ASEAN countries adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN Region and ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris during Thailand’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2019. [...] Within these evolving areas of cooperation and emerging issues, the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) remains one of the most relevant frameworks of ASEAN’s engagement with external partners on maritime cooperation. [...] They could pave way for closer and more substantive cooperation on maritime security issues such as Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to address maritime threats in the region and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) to promote effective and sustainable use of maritime domain in the future.
Authors
- Pages
- 5
- Published in
- Thailand
Table of Contents
- Amid an intensifying geopolitical competition challenges to ASEAN in its maritime 1
- Malacca Singapore and Lombok Straits and the South China Sea. For example the Malacca Strait 1
- According to Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit Assistant Professor and Head of the Centre for 1
- Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies RSIS the Indo- 1
- Pacific region is home of 60 of global maritime trade 60 of global GDP and 3000 marine 2
- The first edition of released in August 2023 stated that the 2
- The report referred to a plethora of traditional and non-traditional maritime security issues such as 2
- Illegal Unreported and Unregulated IUU Fishing. ASEAN has stakes in global fishery 2
- Although the region has been peaceful without major maritime conflict with military 2
- First ongoing geopolitical conflicts could trigger congestion in maritime transport and 2
- Second incident of piracy and arms robbery against ships have increased. The statistics 2
- 2023. The number has increased compared to the year 2022. Most of the occurrences involved 1-3 2
- Third freedom of navigation and innocent passage could be affected. Given the 3
- An additional maritime security issue at which ASEAN should take a closer look is 3
- Maritime security also has an environmental dimension. Threats to the regions depleting 3
- Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN Region and ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine 3
- Debris during Thailands ASEAN Chairmanship in 2019. 3
- Another example of an environmental incident that affects maritime security is oil spill. On 3
- June 14 beaches around Singapore had to be closed due to the crash of two vessels at Pasir Panjang 3
- Terminal in Singapore causing an enormous oil spill along the coastline. The efforts made by 4
- ASEAN member countries to tackle the issue have already existed. There are the memorandum of 4
- Contingency Plan adopted in 2018 in Bangkok. 4
- Within these evolving areas of cooperation and emerging issues the implementation of the 4
- ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific AOIP remains one of the most relevant frameworks of 4
- ASEANs engagement with external partners on maritime cooperation. The problems required 4
- Minilateralism could be considered a strategic option. For example Thailand has been 4
- Existing ASEAN regional frameworks such as the ASEAN Regional Forum Inter-sessional 4
- Meeting on Maritime Security and the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum EAMF may provide 4
- Maritime domain is vital to peace and prosperity in the region. A secure predictable and 5
