Abstract
Some Japanese scholars such as Ikegami Masako suggest that the Dokdo issue can and should be resolved using a liberalist approach. This approach, however, ignores the essence of the issue and attempts, instead, to solve the problem by treating it as a subject of conflict resolution. But such an approach designed in haste to resolve the Dokdo issue could only further aggravate the existing tension between the two countries. This paper argues that a twin approach, one realist and one constructivist, is the best way to deal with the Dokdo issue. From the realist perspective, compromise or cooperation is not a feasible option for resolving the Dokdo issue, which is basically a dispute over sovereignty and territory. From a constructivist point of view, it is an issue of identity. Dokdo is considered to be an inseparable part of Korean territory that must be protected at any cost. Consequently, the only solution to the problem is for Japan to retract its claim over Dokdo, which will be taken by Koreans as a sign of Japan’s willingness to reorient its course of actions and in so doing the relationship can finally be put on the right track.
Read the article online here.
Topic: Maritime Security
Samuels, Richard J
Abstract
Japanese leaders struggled for decades to overcome legal, political, and normative constraints on the expansion of the Self-Defense Forces so that Japan could field a robust military. Their progress was steady and significant, but slow. Now, having reframed the nature of the threat Japan faces and having borrowed creatively from the U.S. model, they have found new traction by empowering the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). Today’s JCG has what its publicists, citing capabilities explicitly banned by Japan’s constitution, call “New Fighting Power!” Remarkably, however, JCG modernization and expansion are being achieved without much objection from Japan’s neighbors or from the domestic public. Although the JCG is not a “second navy,” it is already a fourth branch of the Japanese military. Tokyo is now able to project additional diplomatic influence as well as “fighting power.” Japan’s “new fighting power” is thus greater than the sum of its military parts.
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Glosny, Michael A
Abstract
Recent remarks by Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian advocating increased sovereignty for Taiwan underscore concern that further efforts to declare formal independence from China could ultimately lead to a Chinese decision to use force. Michael Glosny of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presents several scenarios to assess the likelihood of a successful Chinese submarine blockade against Taiwan. Glosny argues that although a submarine blockade would likely impose significant costs on Taiwan, “the threat of a successful blockade is overstated.”
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Ross, Robert S.
Abstract
Recent developments in Chinese politics and defense policy indicate that China will soon embark on an ambitious maritime policy that will include construction of a power-projection navy centered on an aircraft carrier. But just as nationalism and the pursuit of status encouraged past land powers to seek great power maritime capabilities, widespread nationalism, growing social instability, and the leadership’s concern for its political legitimacy drive China’s naval ambition. China’s maritime power, however, will be limited by the constraints experienced by all land powers: enduring challenges to Chinese territorial security and a corresponding commitment to a large ground force capability will constrain China’s naval capabilities and its potential challenge to U.S. maritime security. Nonetheless, China’s naval nationalism will challenge U.S.-China cooperation. It will likely elicit increased U.S. naval spending and deployments, as well as politicization of China policy in the United States, challenging the United States to develop policy to manage U.S.-China naval competition to allow for continued political cooperation.
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Glosny, Michael A., Phillip C. Saunders, and Robert S. Ross
Abstract
In “China’s Naval Nationalism: Sources, Prospects, and the U.S. Response,” Robert Ross seeks to explain why “China will soon embark on a more ambitious maritime policy, beginning with the construction of a power-projection navy centered on an aircraft carrier.” Ross argues that geopolitical constraints should lead China, a continental power, to pursue access denial as its optimal maritime strategy. He relies on “naval nationalism” to explain China’s development of naval power-projection capabilities, which he describes as a suboptimal choice given China’s geopolitical position. We argue that “naval nationalism” is an underdeveloped and unconvincing explanation for China’s pursuit of expanded naval capabilities. Instead, China’s development of a limited naval power-projection capability reflects changes in China’s threat environment and expanded Chinese national interests created by deeper integration into the world economy. In our critique, we first identify flaws in Ross’s geopolitical analysis. Second, we discuss shortcomings in his causal argument. Lastly, we briefly present Chinese rationales for the development of limited power-projection capabilities, which are consistent with a proper understanding of Chinese interests.
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Till, Geoffrey
Summary
The rise of the Chinese and other Asian navies, worsening quarrels over maritime jurisdiction and the United States’ maritime pivot towards the Asia-Pacific region reminds us that the sea has always been central to human development as a source of resources, and as a means of transportation, information-exchange and strategic dominion. It has provided the basis for mankind’s prosperity and security, and this is even more true in the early 21st century, with the emergence of an increasingly globalized world trading system. Navies have always provided a way of policing, and sometimes exploiting, the system. In contemporary conditions, navies, and other forms of maritime power, are having to adapt, in order to exert the maximum power ashore in the company of others and to expand the range of their interests, activities and responsibilities. While these new tasks are developing fast, traditional ones still predominate. Deterrence remains the first duty of today’s navies, backed up by the need to ‘fight and win’ if necessary. How navies and their states balance these two imperatives will tell us a great deal about our future in this increasingly maritime century. This book investigates the consequences of all this for the developing nature, composition and functions of all the world’s significant navies, and provides a guide for anyone interested in the changing and crucial role of seapower in the 21st century.
Seapower is essential reading for all students of naval power, maritime security and naval history, and highly recommended for students of strategic studies, international security and International Relations.
Prabhakar, Lawrence W., Joshua Ho, and W. S. G. Bateman
Summary
The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as the hub of global geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic significance in the post-Cold War period. The rise of China and the resurgence of India will be the hallmark for the next 50 years. How this surge in power is accommodated by the incumbent powers like the United States and Japan, and how the new regional powers like China and India manage the power politics that emerge will be the key determinants of regional stability. This volume examines the national maritime doctrines as well as the nuclear weapons developments at sea of the four major powers in the Asia-Pacific, namely, China, India, Japan and the United States, to see if the evolving dynamic is a cooperative or a competitive one. In particular, the volume looks at the evolving paradigms of maritime transformation in strategy and technology; the emergent new maritime doctrines and evolving force postures in the naval orders of battle; the role and operations of nuclear navies in the Asia-Pacific; and the implications and impact of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and sea-based missile defence responses in the region.
Elmmers, Ralf
Summary
Geopolitics is a crucial element in understanding international relations in East Asia, with major and medium powers competing for influence. This book examines geopolitics in East Asia, focusing in particular on its major, contentious maritime territorial disputes. It looks in particular detail at the overlapping claims between Japan, China and Taiwan over the Senkaku/Diao yu Islands in the East China Sea as well as the Paracel Islands claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam and the Spratly Islands involving Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam in the South China Sea. The book offers a comparative study of the East and South China Seas by arguing that their respective circumstances are influenced by similar geopolitical considerations; factors such as territory, natural resources and power competition all impact on disputes and broader regional relations. It is precisely the interplay of these geopolitical forces that can lead to the rapid escalation of a maritime territorial dispute or reversely to a diffusion of tensions. The book considers how such disputes might be managed and resolved peacefully, despite the geopolitical conditions that can make co-operation on these issues difficult to achieve. Ralf Emmers examines the prospect for conflict management and resolution by identifying catalysts which may contribute to improving the climate of relations.
Wu, Shicun and Keyuan Zou
Summary
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.
Bradford, John F
Abstract
The maintenance of safe and secure sea lanes, particularly those that link the United States with its partners in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, is at the very core of US interests. Therefore, US maritime strategy seeks to sustain credible combat power in the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf/Indian Ocean so as to preclude attempts at interrupting vital sea lines of communication (SLOCs) and commerce. Given these strategic imperatives and the capability of both state and non-state actors to disrupt the Indo-Pacific sea lanes critical to global prosperity, the United States has renewed its commitment to maritime security in Asia. In recent years, the United States has made significant adjustments to its defence posture in order to bring more maritime forces closer to Indo-Pacific sea lanes and defence officials have stated their intention to further enhance US posture in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean while maintaining US presence in Northeast Asia. Recognizing that the expansive nature of Indo-Pacific maritime territory and the complexity of the region’s maritime challenges prevent any one country from resourcing the operations necessary to provide sea lane security, the United States is also strengthening cooperation with its maritime partners by expanding relationships and trust-building efforts, contributing to the capacity of its partners and enhancing interoperability. At the same time, the United States is supporting the strengthening of maritime symposiums and regional organizations as the foundations for the security architectures necessary to ensure the security of Indo-Pacific sea lanes and sustain regional prosperity.
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Burilkov, Alexandr, and Torsten Geise
Abstract
This paper seeks to uncover the drivers of maritime strategy formulation in Russia and China, two active players on the international stage that have often been identified as both rising and regional powers. The paper takes as its starting point the realist theory of state power and threat perception, which provide the means and motivation for states to accumulate material capabilities in an effort to safeguard their position in the international system. Given the increasing pressures of a changing security environment, China’s and Russia’s maritime strategies show a trend towards greater complexity and capability. The paper also addresses the impact of the revolution in military affairs (RMA) and its subsequent manifestation as force transformation in Western states, especially the USA. Given that this new, qualitatively focused way of war has gained supremacy, at least where high-intensity inter-state war is concerned, the question remains of whether the Chinese and Russians will choose to emulate the leading powers in the system or, instead, will forge into the unknown and formulate an entirely different and innovative maritime strategy.
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Haacke, Jürgen and Noel M. Morada ed
Summary
This book offers the most comprehensive analysis yet of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which remains the foremost dialogue forum for the promotion of cooperative security in the Asia-Pacific.
Contributors focus on the perspectives and roles of the key players in the ARF – ASEAN, the United States, China, Japan, and Australia – and discuss to what extent these participants have shaped the Forum’s institutional development and affected its achievements and prospects against the backdrop of the evolving regional security architecture. They also examine in depth how participants have used the Forum to respond to a range of important transnational security issues and challenges, including terrorism and maritime security, as well as disaster relief. This work also explores how, despite the difficulties in reaching a new consensus regarding the collective pursuit of preventive diplomacy, some activist participants have succeeded in bringing about a notable, albeit incipient, ‘practical turn’ in the ARF’s security cooperation.
This book will appeal to students of South-East Asian Politics, Asian Security Studies and International Relations in general.
Till, Geoffrey, and Jane Chan, ed
Summary
This edited volume analyses the naval arms race in South-East Asia, and reviews the content, purposes and consequences of the naval policies and development of the main countries of the region.
The rise of naval capability in the countries of the Asia-Pacific Region is increasingly recognised as a major indicator of the ‘rise of Asia’ and its increasing importance in the world’s political, economic and strategic future. Most coverage focuses solely on the navies of the ‘big four’ – the US, China, India and Japan; however, the region’s other navies, though much smaller, are significant too. Given the current focus on the South China Sea and the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia, naval development in South-East Asia is of particular relevance.
This book first identifies the issues involved in defence acquisition in this area. It then goes on to establish some templates of naval modernisation as a means of assessing the policies of individual countries in the region, by looking at the naval policies of the big four. Finally, the general issue of naval modernisation in South-East Asia is illustrated through a more detailed examination of some of the major issues common to all countries of the area. These include the defence-industrial perspective, specific examinations of submarine and surface ship acquisition processes, and a review of the balance to be struck between naval and coastguard forces in the area.
This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, maritime security, South-East Asian politics, strategic studies, and IR in general.
Sutter, Robert and Chin-hao Huang
Abstract
The primary focus of attention in the relationship over the summer was the ongoing dispute over territorial claims in the South China Sea as China set forth implicit choices for the Southeast Asian disputants and others with an interest in the region. Two paths – one focused on a demonstration of China’s growing power and the other on positive aspects of Chinese engagement with Southeast Asia – are emerging as China continues to define its response to the conflict. Meanwhile, ASEAN struggled with finding a sense of unity in the face of disagreement among members regarding the territorial disputes. Elsewhere, China sought to reaffirm its friendly relations with Myanmar while seeking reassurance that the leadership in Naypidaw remained committed to previously agreed-upon projects.
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Storey, Ian
Abstract
A discussion of maritime security in Southeast Asia focuses on the struggle against piracy/sea robbery & efforts to resolve maritime territorial/boundary disputes. The recent increase in piracy & sea robbery incidents has resulted in a disagreement between the US & regional countries over the root causes. Factors that contribute to the problem are examined, along with concerns that terrorists might join pirate gangs; the role of the US & other external powers; & efforts to improve maritime security through regional cooperation like the implementation of trilateral coordinated naval patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia, & Singapore. As the result of cooperative efforts of regional states complemented by capacity-building support from external powers, the maritime security situation in Southeast Asia has improved significantly since 2004. A review of territorial & boundary disputes highlights the complicated South China Sea conflict between China & several Association of Southeast Asian Nations members. It is concluded that the future prospects for maritime security in Southeast Asia depend on a continuation of enhanced regional & international cooperation.
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