Asia-Pacific countries to avoid conflicts at sea

Defence ministers of South East Asia and eight other powers, including India, on Thursday vowed to strengthen military cooperation and take practical steps to avoid maritime conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meeting under the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), which concluded in the Brunei capital, the ministers agreed to work towards enhancing regional capacity and joint capabilities through greater engagements and interactions. This could take the form of training and joint exercises and establish mechanisms for effective response.

The ministers of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their eight “dialogue partners” — Japan, China, South Korea, the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand — signed the Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration after the talks, which stressed the strategic importance of the ADMM-Plus process to respond to current and future challenges. 

They discussed ways on how to “encourage the cooperation within the ADMM-Plus defence and military establishments to establish practical measures to reduce vulnerability to miscalculations, and avoid misunderstanding and undesirable incidents at sea”.

“We look forward to the upcoming exercise on maritime security, counterterrorism and peacekeeping operation,” Brunei’s Energy Minister Yasmin Haji Umar, who chaired the meeting, told a news conference. 

ADMM-Plus is part of the ASEAN effort at constructing a sustainable regional security architecture amidst the growing military tensions — on the one hand, between China and its East Asian neighbours and, on the other, between Beijing and Washington.

Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh represented India, whose military diplomacy is said to have a significant impact on the setting up of a new security structure in the Asia-Pacific.

Maritime security is one of biggest concern in the region. Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia are embroiled in territorial disputes with China over several resource-rich islands in the South China Sea. 

Japan and China are engaged in a separate dispute in the East China Sea.

Many of the nations accuse China of using its rapidly advancing military to more aggressively defend what it views as its territory. Some of the nations have expanded their defence cooperation with the United States.

On Wednesday, ASEAN defence ministers and senior defence officials pledged to further strengthen cooperation to address defence and security challenges in the region at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM). 

US defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took time for bilateral talks with his counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Brunei, Burma and China. 

During the meetings, each country expressed strong support for the steady US presence in the Asia-Pacific and viewed US engagement in the region as a key contributor to peace and stability.

Hagel noted the need to continue progress toward peacefully resolving territorial disputes, and committed to continued US support for ASEAN, said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.

The ADMM-Plus will help lay the groundwork for October’s East Asian Summit, which will be attended by world leaders, including US President Barack Obama. The meeting is also expected to focus on other regional and international security and trade issues.

This was the second ADMM-Plus which included defence chiefs or their representatives of the 18 countries. 

The first meeting of the ADMM took place in Hanoi three years ago. At that meeting, the countries had reached an agreement to focus on maritime security, counter-terrorism, disaster management, peacekeeping operations and military medicine, and set up five expert working groups on this are.

The third ADMM-Plus is scheduled to be held in Malaysia in 2015.

-IANS