Prof Tan See Seng, deputy director and head of research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, RSIS, NTU, wrote that over two days in May 2019, navy chiefs and maritime experts from across the world gathered in Singapore for the sixth edition of the International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC). The 2019 IMSC was striking for the emphatic consensus among its international delegates and participants over the need to strengthen the maritime rules-based order.