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AUSTRALIA AND ITS The mission of the Sea Power Centre - Australia is: Australia faces a complex security environment that is MARITIME INTERESTS: predominantly maritime in nature: • to promote understanding of sea power and its application to the security of Australia’s national interests AT HOME AND IN THE REGION • the rise of China and India • to manage the development of naval doctrine and • tensions and potential conflict between our major facilitate its incorporation into Australian Defence Force AUSTRALIA AND ITS MARITIME INTERESTS trading partners in Northeast Asia doctrine • congested sea lanes and unresolved maritime • to contribute to regional engagement boundaries in Southeast Asia • within the higher Defence organisation, contribute to • the growing importance of the Indian Ocean the development of maritime strategic concepts and strategic and operational level doctrine, and facilitate • extensive Australian interests in the Southern Ocean informed force structure decisions and Antarctica • to preserve, develop and promote the history of the In order to meet these challenges, cooperation is Royal Australian Navy. essential: • evolving international law, safety and security regulations, and other cooperative arrangements Publications • the new United States maritime strategy The Centre produces three main series: Working Papers, Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs, and Foundations of • regional naval cooperation International Thinking on Sea Power. • coalition naval operations in the Arabian Gulf The Working Paper series foster debate and discussion Specific actions by the Royal Australian Navy include: on maritime issues relevant to the RAN and the Australian Defence Force, to Australia and the region. • future roles, missions and structure The Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs series is a • the naval contribution to Border Protection Command referred publication that presents original research on • survey and charting by the Australian Hydrographic Australian and regional maritime issues. Service Foundations of International Thinking on Sea Power series is a referred publication that presents original research, both historical and contemporary, on how various states perceive the necessity for, and the use of, sea power. These publications are free, and are available in hard copy from the Centre’s Information Manager, or electronically from the SPC-A website www.navy.gov.au/spc. The Centre also produces a number of commercially available publications, many of which comprise the proceedings of major conferences or are comprehensive treatments of maritime strategic or naval historical issues. Edited by Andrew Forbes SEA POWER CENTRE - AUSTRALIA Forbes Australia and its Maritime Interests: At Home and in the Region Proceedings of the Royal Australian Navy Sea Power Conference 2008 Edited by Andrew Forbes Sea Power Centre – Australia © Commonwealth of Australia Contents Foreword v Notes on Contributors ix Abbreviations xix PART 1 Introduction Congress Opening 3 Joel Fitzgibbon Welcome 9 Russ Shalders PART 2 Setting the Scene The RAN and Australia’s Security: What Does the Future Hold 17 Tim Huxley Strategic Issues Facing Australia 27 Greg Sheridan Future Navy: Competing Trends in Development – Implications for Australia? 31 Geoffrey Till The Future of the Royal Navy and Coalition Operations 53 Paul Boissier The United States Maritime Strategy 63 Robert Willard The United States Maritime Strategy and Implications for the Indo-Pacific Region 67 Peter Dombrowski and Andrew C Winner PART 3 North Asia The New Power Balance in East Asia 95 Robyn Lim China as a Global Maritime Power: Opportunities and Vulnerabilities 109 Ian Storey Japan’s Contemporary Naval Power and Regional Maritime Cooperation 131 Alessio Patalano iv | Australia and its Maritime Interests: At Home and in the Region The Future of Maritime Security and Regional Cooperation in East Asia: ReCAAP, PSI, and the Tokyo MOU 141 Eric J Lobsinger PART 4 Southeast Asia Operationalising Cooperative Regional Maritime Security 157 Chew Men Leong Pirates, Renegades, and Fishermen: Reassessing the Dynamics of Maritime Piracy in the Malacca Strait 161 Jun Noon Mak Philippines-Australia Maritime Security Cooperation and the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement 181 Rommel C Banlaoi PART 5 Indian Ocean Maritime Security Challenges in the Arabian Sea 195 Muhammad Afzal Tahir An Indian Maritime Security Perspective 201 Anup Singh PART 6 Australia International Law Perspectives on Trans-Tasman Maritime Security 209 Natalie Klein, Joanna Mossop and Donald R Rothwell Australia’s Antarctic and Southern Ocean Interests 223 Marcus Haward Border Protection Command 239 James Goldrick Protecting Australia’s Maritime Zones and Offshore Interests: The Importance of Hydrographic Surveying and Charting 245 Rod Nairn Maximising Strategic Options in Constrained Strategic Circumstances: The Future Underwater Warfare Capability 255 Peter Briggs Notes 275 Foreword As maritime professionals we all know that Australia is an island continent dependant upon the sea for our security. We also know that Australia’s economic life is bound up with the sea with over 99 per cent of our trade by volume moving through our ports. Moreover, our nation has significant interests in the ocean for food, energy, coastal transportation, recreation and tourism. Yet, for many Australians perceptions of the maritime world do not extend much beyond the beach. For many years almost all our overseas travel has been by air and there is very little general appreciation of maritime issues or just how important the oceans are to our survival and prosperity. Australia is located at the juncture of the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans. We are proximate to some of the world’s most strategic chokepoints. The Malacca Strait alone sees the passage of 80 per cent of China’s imported oil. Given our globalised and open economy, Australia maintains a vital interest not only in its own imports and exports, but also in the uninterrupted flow of thisglobal trade. Any interruption of the oil flow from the Middle East to North Asia, for example, would have a quick and detrimental impact on our own economic health. Australia’s maritime responsibilities are extensive and our security interests are diverse. We are accountable for the management, conservation, and protection of the third largest exclusive economic zone in the world; an area far greater than our land mass. With less than 0.3 per cent of the world’s population we have some form of jurisdiction over 15 per cent of the earth’s surface, ranging in climate from the tropical to the polar. Enforcing the attendant rights and responsibilities over this huge expanse of the globe will invariably involve naval forces. Of direct relevance to Australia, our friends and allies in Southeast Asia are also all predominantly maritime states, while our major trading partners in North and East Asia are either maritime or have an increasingly maritime focus. Many regional states thus face a range of similar maritime issues and security concerns. While accepting that these aspects have the potential to be sources of inter-state tensions, we must never lose sight of opportunities for maritime cooperation. With these thoughts providing context, the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Sea Power Conference 2008, Australia and its Maritime Interests: At Home and in the Region, was held in Sydney between 29 and 31 January 2008. Held in conjunction with the Pacific 2008 Maritime Exposition and the International Maritime Conference, the Sea Power Conference sought to explore issues relating to maritime Asia’s unique geography, the types of activities in which navies are involved and the opportunities for maritime and naval cooperation. The papers presented during the conference covered a broad range of issues and were written by serving and retired naval officers from around the world and a wide range of academics. The vi | Australia and its Maritime Interests: At Home and in the Region papers are reproduced here in five sections corresponding, where appropriate, to their geographical focus. The first section provides a context for the succeeding conference sessions by examining the strategic situation facing Australia over the next 25 years and the associated impact on the RAN’s roles, missions and force structure. The international aspect is not neglected, with some discussion on the recently released US maritime strategy A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, which no doubt will be a driver for future maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The next section looks at North Asia, where the complex political interplay between China, Japan, and South Korea is examined - a dynamic informed by historical legacies and current strategic tensions, and overlaid by the continued US regional presence. The economic rise of China is well known, and its focus on commercial maritime activities and naval modernisation provoked considerable discussion during the conference. Not presented at the conference but included here is a paper on the evolution of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and Japanese strategic maritime thinking. This section is rounded out with a discussion of three multilateral agreements on maritime safety and security that could form the basic framework for enhanced maritime cooperation in the region. The third section examines issues in Southeast Asia, with an interesting paper from the Republic of Singapore Navy on how navies in the region are cooperating either bilaterally