15 September 2009

Maritime Security Cooperation in the South China Sea Region

Book Chapters

Andrew S. Erickson, “Maritime Security Cooperation in the South China Sea Region,” in Wu Shicun and Zou Keyuan, eds., Maritime Security in the South China Sea: Regional Implications and International Cooperation (London: Ashgate, 2009), 51-80.

The greater South China Sea region boasts increasing maritime commerce but faces growing unconventional security threats. A wide variety of bilateral and multilateral maritime security cooperation initiatives that recognize both the gravity of extant threats and the interests of those responsible nations involved are helping provide a set of frameworks for collective security. There are other positive indications that analysts in nations throughout the Asia-Pacific increasingly seek cooperative solutions to maritime security concerns. Establishing specific security measures offers prospects for increasing trust, fostering good will, and enhancing maritime security in Southeast Asia. As two major Pacific powers, the U.S. and China have a critical role to play in this process. Effective bilateral communication in this regard will maximize prospects for positive results.

Book Description
Maritime security is of vital importance to the South China Sea, a critical sea route for maritime transport of East Asian countries including China. The adjacent countries have rendered overlapping territorial and/or maritime claims in the South China Sea which complicate the situation of maintaining maritime security and developing regional cooperation there. This book focuses on contemporary maritime security in the South China Sea as well as its connected sea area, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. It identifies and examines selected security issues concerning the safety of navigation, crackdown on transnational crimes including sea piracy and maritime terrorism, and conflict prevention and resolution. In the context of non-traditional security, issues such as maritime environmental security and search and rescue at sea are included. The book explores ways and means of international cooperation in dealing with these maritime security issues.
About the Authors
Shicun Wu is President of the China National Institute for the South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China. Keyuan Zou is Harris Professor of International Law at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.