A Chance to Build on Spirit of Cooperation

The Straits Times

19 March 2014

ALTHOUGH the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 is undeniably tragic, something positive may come out of it.
Regional maritime security forces are involved simultaneously in search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operations. The resulting cooperation presents a useful opportunity to build confidence and thus make unwanted maritime confrontations less likely in the future.

Arguments over territorial claims in the South China Sea have been put on hold. Instead, there is bilateral and multilateral cooperation aimed at finding the missing craft, and rescuing victims when found.

The 26 countries involved include Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.

… This is adapted from an article in RSIS Commentaries, a Web initiative by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

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