August 14, 2023
The Philippines’ high-stakes options at Second Thomas Shoal
The Philippine Coast Guard’s highlighting of China’s harassment of its vessels near Second Thomas Shoal has undoubtedly boosted sympathy for Manila in its David-versus-Goliath struggle to maintain jurisdiction and sovereignty in the South China Sea. Under daily challenge from Beijing, the…
August 10, 2023
Australia must speak up against Beijing’s bullying of the Philippines
Last weekend, China’s coastguard and maritime militia carried out dangerous and aggressive manoeuvres against a small Philippines boat, blocking and blasting it with a powerful water cannon.
August 10, 2023
Not just another naval exercise: Malabar’s vital messaging
US President Theodore Roosevelt once said, ‘A good navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace’. Those poignant words were uttered in 1902 but they have a distinct relevance to the era in which we find ourselves now.
August 9, 2023
South Korea’s role in Indo-Pacific maritime domain awareness
In December 2022, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration released its “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region” in which ROK will take a leading role as a “Global Pivotal State” to promote the freedom, peace, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. To implement the strategy, the…
August 9, 2023
Australia needs an overarching maritime security strategy
Maritime security is a term that can mean almost anything. For many, it conjures images of big-ticket ‘hard security’ issues like military modernisation, island-building, freedom-of-navigation operations, maritime surveillance, grey-zone tactics and maritime militia.
June 23, 2023
A work in progress: The Indo-Pacific partnership for maritime domain awareness
A year ago, the four leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (“Quad”) convened in Tokyo and released a joint statement launching the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). This initiative’s primary objective is to enhance maritime security and domain awareness by…
June 8, 2023
Coast Guard cooperation: Heading off a troubling storm?
This week the coast guards of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States conduct their first-ever exercise, two weeks after the United States and Japan delivered joint training in the Philippines. In another precedent-setting, first-ever event, on May 4 senior leaders from nine Indo-Pacific…
June 6, 2023
US, Japanese, Philippine Coast Guard Ships Stage Law Enforcement Drills Near South China Sea
Philippine officials say such joint exercises with U.S. forces do not target any country. But Beijing says increased U.S. security deployments in Asia target China and undermine regional stability.
June 5, 2023
The choppy seas and non-dialogue of US–China relations
In the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy ship and a US Navy ship came within 150 yards of a collision. The US says the Chinese warship crossed the bow of the US destroyer in an ‘unsafe’ manoeuvre that ‘violated the maritime “rules of the road” of safe passage in…