Less than a year into office, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already signaled a major overhaul in his country’s foreign policy. In response to China’s harassment of Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, the Filipino leader summoned Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian to express his “serious concern” over the “increasing frequency and […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the illicit maritime drug trafficking threat evolved over the last 20 years? Maritime drug trafficking has transformed into a long-standing threat to maritime security in […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the threat evolved over the last 20 years? Migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, traveling by sea, are neither a new nor insignificant phenomenon. Among […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the navigation hazard threat evolved over the last 20 years? The Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) and the South China Sea are vital water […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has piracy/sea robbery evolved over the last 20 years? Piracy has existed since ancient times, wherein pirates looted vessels carrying commodities. Today, piracy and armed robbery […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How have cyber-attacks evolved over the last 20 years? Cyber-attacks are an emerging threat to the maritime sector. Although the extent of their impact has not been […]

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s emphatic election victory earlier this year—securing more votes than all his rivals combined—caught many observers by surprise, including the victor himself. Many critics feared that the return of the controversial political dynasty to the Malacañang presidential Palace would spell doom for the Philippines’ besieged democracy following six years of authoritarian populism under […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the forced labor threat evolved over the last 20 years? The last decade has featured increased media and third sector attention to  the issue of […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How have threats related to maritime occupational health and safety evolved over the last 20 years? Maritime occupational health and safety (OHS) has been a longstanding problem […]

In 2021, satellite images surfaced depicting the development of a military facility on North Agaléga island, part of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. It emerged that Indian workers were laying the groundwork for an Indian naval military facility. CSIS in May 2022 released images of hangers on Agaléga, big enough to house India’s […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How have environmental crimes evolved over the last 20 years? Environmental crime has received less attention than other forms of transnational maritime crimes. Whereas IUU fishing and […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the threat of climate-induced disasters evolved over the last 20 years? Natural hazards originating from the oceans such as tropical storms and tsunamis that are […]

When it comes to maritime boundary disputes, Malaysia is willing to select from a wide range of policy instruments at its disposal: from legal to political negotiation, and from restraint to combative skirmishes at sea. Malaysia can be accommodating, as it was with Indonesia when the two delimited their continental shelves in 1969 based on […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How has the IUU fishing threat evolved over the last 20 years? While there are signs that the economic losses from Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. How have the threats associated with interstate disputes evolved over the last 20 years? Most territorial and maritime disputes between Southeast Asian states seem to have stabilized […]

This article is part of Evolving Threats to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Southeast Asia’s maritime security landscape is steadily evolving. Earlier in 2022, an RSIS study showed that the region’s maritime stakeholders are increasingly aware of their interconnectivity and […]

Shortly after Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the reins of power in the Philippines, an observer forecasted a major foreign policy reboot, which would defy both his populist and liberal predecessors. The working consensus at the time, however, was that the new Filipino president would largely continue former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Beijing-friendly foreign policy. After all, […]

The negotiation for the adoption of a Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea between ASEAN countries and China usually sparks controversies. The necessity of a COC regulating maritime activities in the region was first mentioned in an ASEAN document in 1992 and appeared in a joint declaration of ASEAN and China in […]

This month marks the tenth anniversary of Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands, when the Japanese government purchased them from a private landowner in an effort to reinforce administrative control and to prevent private groups from visiting. The Chinese response to Japan’s action—which was controversial at the time—sparked a crisis in bilateral relations; although there […]

China’s proposal for a Common Development Vision with Pacific island countries (PICs) is by far its boldest pitch in the vast Blue Continent. The breadth of cooperation areas outlined ranged from education, people-to-people ties, and health to climate change, economics, and security. The move elevated the importance of PICs as a collective, which the region […]

In December 2021, Secretary of Defense Lorenzana announced that the Philippines would purchase $374 million in Brahmos anti-ship missiles from India. The missile has a range of 156 nautical miles, allowing it to range the Bashi Strait if deployed in northern Luzon and part of the Spratly Islands if deployed on Palawan. This may be […]

Throughout much of his adult life, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. lived in his father’s shadow. To many observers, he lacked both the fierce ambition as well as the intellectual credentials of former Filipino dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, who reigned longer than any president in the country’s history. His own father fretted over ending up with a […]

A U.S. sanctioned North Korean vessel transporting coal in breach of UN resolutions ran aground on the Chinese coastline in September last year, after which the ship appears to have been abandoned and scrapped. With UN sanctions prohibiting transfers of both coal and vessels, it seems unclear how the derelict vessel on the Chinese shore […]

Over the past two decades, Russia has played a quiet yet consequential role in the South China Sea. Despite its intimate ties with Beijing, the Eurasian power has steadily armed rival claimant states such as Vietnam and, to a lesser degree, Malaysia, while actively courting robust defense ties with the Philippines and Indonesia. Aside from […]

A satellite photograph taken outside North Korea’s largest port in late 2020 shows a small cargo ship carrying what looks to be a missile shaped object on its deck. Measuring approximately 10 meters in the length, the seemingly cylindrical white object also seems to have a pointed tip and guidance fins at the base. But […]

Sometimes, quantity is quality in itself. Quantification may convincingly indicate progress, especially before the prying eyes of one’s political leaders and the taxpayers to whom defense and military establishments must be held accountable. Great is thus the temptation to reduce naval modernization plans to a mere bean-counting exercise. Otherwise methodical and programmatic arms procurement plans […]

This article is part of Conceptualization of “Maritime Security” in Southeast Asia, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The United Kingdom’s definition of “maritime security” The United Kingdom’s 2014 “National Strategy for Maritime Security” (NSMS) defines maritime security as “the advancement and protection of the […]

This article is part of Conceptualization of “Maritime Security” in Southeast Asia, a series of analyses produced by experts convened by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The European Union’s definition of “maritime security” The European Union’s official definition for maritime security is included in the European Union Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS), which the […]

Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen kicked off his rotational chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with characteristic “cowboy diplomacy.” Just months after the regional organization disinvited Myanmar’s junta leaders from regional meetings due to the lack of progress on the implementation the “Five Point Consensus”, the Cambodia leader became the first head […]

In March 2021 the UK government published its “Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy: Global Britain in a Competitive Age,” commonly known as the “Integrated Review.” The two pages devoted to framing the United Kingdom’s “Indo-Pacific tilt” represent the clearest statement to date regarding the country’s official intent to expand and deepen […]