Speech by Senior Minister of State for Defence, Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, at the Opening Ceremony of the International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC) 2017

SAFE AND SECURE SEAS: A VISION FOR THE MARITIME REGION

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A very good afternoon.

Introduction and Welcome

It brings me great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 5th International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC). Since its inaugural conference in 2009, the IMSC has gone from strength to strength, and provided a key platform for the international maritime community to exchange ideas and tackle emerging issues.

Here today, we have a strong line-up of over 400 maritime experts from navies and coast guards, maritime industries, academia, and think-tanks. Your presence here underscores the commitment of the maritime community to work together to ensure safe and secure seas.

Importance of Maritime Trade in the Region

Safe and secure seas are the foundation on which maritime trade grows and prospers. More than 90% of all trade in goods is conducted via the sea. And the strategic shipping lanes that traverse this region account for more than half of all maritime trade. Just take an example of the Singapore Strait -- an all-time high of 83,740 transits were recorded in 2016, with a ship leaving Singapore every two to three minutes.

Maritime trade has long defined our region. From the 7th to the 13th century, the powerful maritime empire of Srivijaya controlled the region by dominating the Strait of Malacca. In the 14th century, Zheng He utilised the maritime trade routes to build diplomatic ties as far as the Persian Empire and establish a tributary system. Later on in the 16th century, the lucrative maritime trade in opium and tea also attracted European colonial powers to the region. This led to many skirmishes. For example, the Dutch capture of a Portuguese merchant ship in 1603 sparked off the Naval Battle of Changi between the two countries. A Portuguese armada of 40 mostly smaller craft fought with four Dutch warships in waters not too far from here.

The maritime domain has therefore been a domain of contestation, between rival powers and empires. From the 16th to 19th century, the British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish all had colonies and ports in the region, which often changed hands depending on the shifting sands of geopolitics and economics. For example, Malacca belonged to the Portuguese in the 16th century, then to the Dutch in 1641, before being ceded to the British following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. The history of Malacca shows just how the region is no stranger to competition and conflict.

After World War II, the intimate link between economics and the sea eventually necessitated codes of conduct to govern maritime behaviour. Technological advances enabled offshore oil production further away from land. Fishing vessels also grew larger and operated further. This led to increased maritime conflicts in the Atlantic and the Pacific. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted in 1982 by consensus, carefully negotiated to balance the interests of coastal states and the general rights for freedom of navigation of other user states. Exclusive Economic Zones or EEZs are a prime example -- UNCLOS permits coastal states to control their economic resources up to 200 nautical miles in their 'patrimonial sea', while allowing all other user states the freedom of navigation and other freedoms associated with the high seas, including military activities in the EEZ. If any country tries to cherry-pick and restrict  such freedoms based on their own interests, it will risk UNCLOS and the global rules-based order falling apart, and threaten the peace and prosperity that our region has enjoyed over the past decades.

Complexity of the Maritime Domain

Today, UNCLOS is an international agreement that helps preserve order and stability at sea. However, there are emerging global and maritime trends that make the landscape at sea, or seascape more complex than before.

The US-China relationship is the single-most important factor that undergirds stability in the region. Strategic cooperation between the US and China over issues such as North Korea brings stability to the region. Conversely, a lack of cooperation and a climate of mistrust would have adverse effects, particularly when both countries have stepped up their naval deployments in the region.

On the maritime front, territorial tensions persist in parts of the East and South China Seas. If poorly managed, miscalculations at sea could result in unintended and undesirable consequences.  

This is compounded by the increasing capabilities of regional navies. For example, as of 2016, there are approximately 200 submarines operating in the Pacific. Based on submarine procurement estimates, this figure would rise to 250 in 2025. Besides submarines, the navies of our region continue a major modernisation drive with Asia's defence spending projected to increase by 23% by 2020. Warships will become better-equipped, with stronger sea-legs that enable them to sail further and longer. More navies will operate carriers in the region. In such an environment, there is a need to work better with each other, abiding by mutually agreed rules and codes of conduct, to avoid unintended confrontations and accidents at sea.

The threats to the maritime domain also come from non-traditional threats. Maritime terrorism has been steadily on the rise and the porosity of the maritime domain makes it a convenient medium for would-be perpetrators. The Mumbai attacks in 2008 have demonstrated that terrorists can carry out terror attacks or terrorist acts from the sea. More recently, with the backing of ISIS, militant groups in the southern Philippines have also stepped up abductions in the Sulu Sea.

And then there are other non-traditional maritime security threats such as the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and illegal human trafficking, as well as natural disasters that occur frequently, particularly within our Pacific Ring of Fire.

Achieving Safe and Secure Seas

In order to address these challenges quickly and effectively, transnational cooperation is critical. Looking ahead, I believe that there are two aspects where states can play a part to achieve safe and secure seas -- building trust and advancing practical cooperation.

Building Trust

Building trust is a key foundation for effective cooperation. Without trust, promises of cooperation would merely be superficial lip service. We can build trust by engaging in dialogue and maintaining open channels of communication.

Regional frameworks such as the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) and ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) serve as useful platforms to facilitate open and inclusive dialogue.

At the operational level, forums such as the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) and Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) further mutual trust and understanding that can bring about practical solutions to enhance maritime security. A good example is the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), which arose from the 14th WPNS in 2014 and has been commonly used by WPNS warships to avoid misunderstandings when they meet each other at sea.

Another area in which countries can build trust is through information-sharing. Since 2009, the Republic of Singapore Navy's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) has provided an open and inclusive platform for maritime information-sharing. Through open networks and the co-location of the International Liaison Officers (ILOs) at Changi C2 Centre, IFC has successfully strengthened linkages and built up trust and cooperation. This led to tangible outcomes, such as in the Indonesian navy's successful rescue of the hijacked Hai Soon 12 in May 2016, which was cued by the IFC through the Indonesian ILO.

Co-locating ILOs in the IFC has also enabled the IFC to verify incidents and facts quickly and accurately, which is of great value given the rapid media and response cycles we face today. For example, in February 2017, Vietnamese authorities were able to quickly receive, through their ILO, an accurate count of the number of hostages abducted from the Vietnamese cargo ship Giang Hai, while it was transiting the Sulu Sea. In the eight years since we started the IFC, ILOs from 23 countries have been accredited to the IFC and more are welcome to do so.

Advancing Practical Cooperation

Trust can be further deepened with greater practical cooperation for us to achieve safe and secure seas. With our ships on the ground, navies and coast guards are in prime position to work together and enhance our interoperability.

Conducting maritime exercises is at the core of advancing practical cooperation. Exercises such as RIMPAC, CARAT, ADMM and ADMM-Plus allow navies to further cooperation and enhance mutual understanding. In this spirit, Singapore, in our capacity as the coordinator of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, has also been working with China and ASEAN to facilitate an ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise -- an idea first mooted by China in May 2016.

Counter-piracy efforts are a good example of successful practical cooperation. In the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, there was a spike in piracy-related incidents in 2015. Under the Malacca Straits Patrol (MSP) initiative, coordinated patrols and joint surveillance and information-sharing efforts between the littoral states of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, eventually led to a significant reduction in piracy -- only two incidents were reported in 2016. The MSP was a good example of practical cooperation -- it facilitated information-sharing, allowed littoral states to overcome territorial concerns, and led to successful outcomes.

Beyond piracy, practical cooperation can help keep our seas safer and more secure against terrorism. Last year, the two ADMM-Plus EWGs for Counter-Terrorism (CT) and Maritime Security conducted a combined exercise to strengthen the capability and interoperability of participating militaries in responding to maritime terrorist threats. The exercise consisted of a realistic sea- and land-based scenario that stepped participants through the entire CT process, and streamlined key processes that were crucial for CT.

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, or HADR, also presents an opportunity to further practical cooperation. The ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group (EWG) for HADR and Military Medicine conducted an exercise last year to test the coordinated responses of militaries to disaster scenarios such as tsunamis, earthquakes and typhoons. In January 2017, 18 militaries from ADMM-Plus countries also participated in Exercise Coordinated Response to strengthen coordination and interoperability in HADR operations. This bodes well for the region's response to future disasters at sea, and for the coordination of navies to support disaster relief on land.

IMSC as a valued platform

The 5th IMSC provides a valuable platform to discuss the issues that I have raised today. What more can and must we do as we pursue our common maritime objectives? Are the current mechanisms that we have in place sufficient in preventing misunderstandings and promoting mutual trust? Have we examined examples from sea encounters in other parts of the world and reflected on learning points that would be relevant to our part of the seas? Trust is always a work in progress, never an end point. From the interpersonal, to the operational, to the policy levels, we must commit to this process to enable our pursuit of common maritime objectives and keep our seas safe.

Keeping our seas safe will also secure our economic lifelines. The transnational nature of maritime security threats necessitates deeper cooperation to understand and respond to the growing concerns about the nexus between maritime crime and the spread of militant extremism and terrorism. We should not underestimate the capabilities nor sophistication of terror groups to use the maritime domain as their new field of operation. How much do we know and how much more do we need to know? For example, over 200 million tons of combustible and toxic chemical shipments transit the seas every year. Terrorists could hijack these shipments for use as floating bombs. How can we enhance information-sharing to tackle this security challenge more effectively?

As we discuss these issues and more, let us use this occasion to strengthen our collective commitment to regional peace and security. As prominent maritime practitioners, your inputs are crucial in shaping our seas and achieving our vision of safe and secure seas for the maritime region.

It is also important that we use this opportunity to reinforce our institutional and personal friendships. While we build trust among the institutions we represent, the personal friendships we build are equally important in providing a meaningful foundation for concrete and substantial collaboration.

Conclusion

Let us continue to work together to realise the Vision for Our Maritime Region -- Safe and Secure Seas. It is now my pleasure to declare the 5th IMSC open. I wish all participants a fruitful discussion. Thank you.

More Resources

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