Lecture Abstract:

The paper will identify key issues and questions for a study being undertaken by the Maritime Security Programme at RSIS of the future maritime security environment in Asia. Possible maritime developments in the region over the next decade will be considered, including the evolving strategic environment, shifts in the maritime balance of power and the likelihood and impact of particular threats and challenges in the maritime domain. Asia is increasingly a globalised maritime environment and particular attention will be given to trends in shipping and seaborne trade, including in energy and resource materials, so as to have a better sense of the importance of sea lines of communication (SLOCs), the South China Sea, and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Issues to be considered include the consequences of the maritime sovereignty disputes in the region; developments in regional naval forces; increased exploitation of marine resources, both living and non-living; projected developments with key maritime legal regimes; and trends in illegal activity at sea, including piracy, smuggling in drugs, arms and people; and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. As the study by the Maritime Security Programme is work-in-progress, the seminar’s discussion period should provide useful input for the further development of the study.

About the Speaker:

Dr Sam Bateman retired from the RAN as a Commodore and is now a Professorial Research Fellow at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong, and Advisor to the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He was awarded his PhD from the University of NSW in 2001 for a dissertation on “The Strategic and Political Aspects of the Law of the Sea in East Asian Seas”. He has written extensively on defence and maritime issues in Australia, the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean, including reports for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Our Western Front: Australia and the Indian Ocean, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Canberra, March 2010, Sea Change: Advancing Australia’s ocean interests, March 2009, and policy papers for RSIS on ASEAN and the Indian Ocean – A Policy Paper, Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2011, and Good Order at Sea in Southeast Asia – Policy Recommendations, 2009. Recent co-edited publications includeMaritime Challenges and Priorities in Asia – Implications for regional security, Abingdon: Routledge, 2012, Southeast Asia and the Rise of Chinese and Indian Naval Power: Between Rising Naval Powers,  Abingdon: Routledge, 2010, Security and International Politics in the South China Sea: Towards a Cooperative Management Regime (Routledge, 2008) and Lloyd’s MIU Handbook of Maritime Security (Auerbach Publications, 2008).

Moderated by:
Jane Chan, Research Fellow and Coordinator of the Maritime Security Programme, RSIS Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies

Organised by IDSS Maritime Security Programme and RSIS Events Unit.