Enhancing ASEAN Maritime Cooperation: Peace, Stability and Balancing Interests

Abstract

In terms of lessons learnt, it is clear that the economy of developing countries such as Cambodia in South-East Asia are most likely to remain dependent on regional economic integration. Therefore, any incident which happens at sea will impact supply demands, the 
flows and movements of goods and ultimately severely impact national economies. China’s economic boom should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat since China has been one of the top regional economic partners. However, the rise of China’s economy has also lead to enormous defence expenditure and posed significant concern to countries and parties to SCS disputes. The increase number of regional militaries modernisation plans and defence reforms may trigger a potential arms race in the region which could potentially escalate the SCS and the Taiwan Strait situation. Traditional maritime issues such as border issues, IUU fishing, environmental degradation, sea robbery and piracy, and existing extremist group activity remain challenges for regional security. IUU fishing has impacted severely some economies such as Indonesia, and the Philippines.