This book is concerned with both the national security concerns of Asian maritime nations and the security of the Asian maritime commons. These are defined as the Pacific and Indian Oceans and associated seas, bays, and gulfs, with their included sea lines of communication (SLOCs). The most useful geographical designation for maritime Asia is the “Indo-Pacific.” Bernard Cole provides both a survey of the maritime strategies of the primary nations of the Indo-Pacific region and an evaluation of the domestic and international politics that drive those strategies. The United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Iran, the smaller Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf states are all surveyed and analyzed. The United States, Japan, China, and India not surprisingly draw the most attention, given their large modern navies and distant strategic reach. The author concludes that the United States remains the dominant maritime power in this huge region, stretching from Canada to the Persian Gulf, despite its lack of a traditionally strong merchant marine. U.S. maritime power remains paramount, due primarily to its dominant navy. The Chinese naval modernization program deservedly receives a good deal of public attention, but Cole argues that on a day-to-day basis the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, as its navy is named, is the most powerful maritime force in Far Eastern waters, while the modernizing Indian Navy potentially dominates the Indian Ocean. In fact, a focus of this work is the exemplary description of all the region’s navies, with the author noting the naval arms race that is underway, particularly in the area of submarine acquisition. Cole is careful to couch this phenomenon in the regional concerns about Chinese naval expansion and the desire to ensure a continued, massive U.S. naval presence. The current naval developments in the region evince elements of a naval arms race, but lack the coherent maritime strategies to make naval developments dangerous to regional peace and security. Most telling will be whether United States power and focus remain on the region, while adjusting to continued Chinese maritime power in a way acceptable to both nations. No other current or recent work provides such a complete description of the Indo-Pacific region’s navies and maritime strategies, while analyzing the current and future impact of those forces.

The first-ever major study on maritime strategies in the Asian region and the technical co-operation possibilities with German maritime industries, provides an up-to date and comprehensive assessment of the maritime strategic concepts and the navy capabilities of the coastal countries of the Asia-Pacific region. From a European perspective Asia, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Far Eastern regions, is of crucial importance for world trade and international stability. But global and regional prosperity and stability are closely related to the indispensable precondition of freedom of navigation for commercial shipping and the unrestricted use of sea-lanes of communication (SLOCs). For many years, the prime maritime concern was militaly, not economic, as the United States and other nations required secure maritime transport through the sea-lanes of the Asian regions in times of military tensions and war. Now the emphasis has shifted to the economic component, but freedom of navigation for commercial shipping will still have to be guaranteed by military or maritime means, and depends to a growing part on modem technical equipment. What are the major concerns? How well are nations in the region and outside it prepared to deal with these challenges? Are their navies equipped to match the new security environment and to defend the national interests? What are the possibilities of international co-operation? An international team of experts deals with these questions in this joint study led by the "Asia Strategic Institute Hong Kong" and the "Institute of International Relations" at the German Federal Armed Forces University in Munich.

Maritime power has been a key defining parameter of economic vitality and geostrategic power of nations. This book explores how the first decade of the 21st century has witnessed the rise of China and India as confident economic powers pivoting on high growth rates, exponential expansion of science, technology and industrial growth.

Asia is headed toward an uncertain and potentially volatile future in the maritime arena. The two rising Asian powers, China and India, dependent as they are on seaborne commerce for their economic well-being, have clearly set their eyes on the high seas. Yoshihara and Holmes offer a stark warning that many strategists in Beijing and New Delhi appear spellbound by the more militant visions of sea power. Indeed, both powers appear poised to develop the capacity to control the sea lanes through which the bulk of their commerce flows. If they enter the nautical environment with such a martial mindset, Asia could very well fall victim to regional rivalries that give rise to a vicious cycle of competition. Yoshihara and Holmes provide the first examination of the simultaneous rise of two naval powers and the potential impact that such an oceanic reconfiguration of power in Asia could have on long-term regional stability. Their study analyzes the maritime interests and strategies of the littoral states in Asia as they prepare for the expected reordering of nautical affairs. This long-overdue assessment revisits underlying assumptions that have prevailed among strategy-makers and provides a concrete policy framework for reducing the risk of confrontation in Asian waters.

Indonesia is the largest archipelago state in the world comprising 17,480 islands, with a maritime territory measuring close to 6 million square kilometres. It is located between the two key shipping routes of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Indonesia’s cooperation in maritime security initiatives is vitally important because half of the world’s trading goods and oil pass through Indonesian waters, including the Straits of Malacca, the Strait of Sunda and the Strait of Lombok. This book analyses Indonesia’s participation in international maritime security cooperation. Using Indonesia as a case study, the book adopts mixed methods to assess emerging power cooperation and non-cooperation drawing from various International Relations theories and the bureaucratic politics approach. It addresses not only the topic of Indonesia’s cooperation but also engages in debates across the International Relations, political science and policy studies disciplines regarding state cooperation. Based on extensive primary Indonesian language sources and original interviews, the author offers a conceptual discussion on the reasons underlying emerging middle power participation or non-participation in cooperation agreements. The analysis offers a fresh perspective on the growing problems of maritime terrorism and sea robbery and how an emerging power deals with these threats at unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. The book fills a significant gap in literature on Indonesian foreign policy making in the post-1998 era. It provides the first in-depth study of Indonesia’s decision making process in the area of maritime security and will thus be of interest to researchers in the field of comparative politics, international relations, security policy, maritime cooperation, port and shipping businesses and Southeast Asian politics and society.

Since the end of the Cold War, the principle naval powers of East Asia--China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea--have increased the importance they attach to their maritime strategies relative to the changing situation in East Asia and adjoining waters. With the growing reliance on each of these countries on seaborne trade and supply of resources, including oil, the countries' maritime defense policies, including the sea lanes of communications (SLOCs), are more important than ever. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the maritime visions of these three countries, the changing maritime security environment they address the maritime territorial disputes, in which they are engaged and the potential for a naval arms race in East Asia. It assesses the impact of Korean reunification and Chinese reunification on their maritime strategies and prospects for a regional multilateral maritime security regime. This thesis emphasizes the importance of the U.S. Navy's forward presence in stabilizing potential problems at sea in East Asia.