About The Book
Maritime Strategies in Asia, the first-ever major study on maritime strategies in the Asian region and the technical co-operation possibilities with German maritime industries, provides an up-to date and comprehensive assessment of the maritime strategic concepts and the navy capabilities of the coastal countries of the Asia-Pacific region. From a European perspective Asia, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Far Eastern regions, is of crucial importance for world trade and international stability. But global and regional prosperity and stability are closely related to the indispens-able precondition of freedom of navigation for commercial shipping and the unre-stricted use of sea-lanes of communication (SLOCs). For many years, the prime maritime concern was militarily, not economic, as the United States and other na-tions required secure maritime transport through the sea-lanes of the Asian regions in times of military tensions and war. Now the emphasis has shifted to the eco-nomic component, but freedom of navigation for commercial shipping will still have to be guaranteed by military or maritime means, and depends to a growing part on modern technical equipment. What are the major concerns? How well are nations in the region and outside it, prepared to deal with these challenges? Are their navies equipped to match the new security environment and to defend the national interests? What are the pos-sibilities of international co-operation? An international team of experts deals with these questions in this joint study led by the "Asia Strategic Institute Hong Kong" and the "Institute of International Relations" at the German Federal Armed Forces University Munich. The result is an almost indispensable book for anyone conduct-ing serious studies of maritime issues in Asia as well as for the interested layman.
Introduction
At the beginning of the twenty first century the United States of America has not only been shaken by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York in September 2001, but is also heading towards an economic downturn. This could be worsened by the events during a long lasting "war against terrorism" declared by President George W. Bush in September 2001. Despite regaining some political trust and international leadership in this context, the United States is also facing fading political credibility both from friends (NATO) and competitors (Russia, the People's Republic of China) by insisting on a "National Missile Defense" (NMD) and its little brother "Theatre Missile Defense" (TMD) whilst the global political tendency is to give more credence to co-operation than to military build-up and confrontation. At the same time Europe is occupied with reforms and enlargement of the European Union (EU); the weakness of its common currency Euro; conflicts in the Balkans and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On the other hand, Asia is divided in political and economic terms. Japan is paralysed and still not recovering from more than 10 years of economic downturn, or nearly a recession. The rest of Northeast Asia however, is not only recovering from the financial crisis of 1997, the Re public of Korea having paid back the International Monetary Funds (IME credit in August 2001, but also seems to be ridding itself of the last "Cold War heritage": the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Southeast Asia, on the contrary, is still struggling, the economic recovery not yet satisfactory in many countries. The effects of the United States economic slow-down are felt everywhere, even in Singapore, one of the region's strongest econo-mies, is experiencing its worst economic downturn in 2001 since 1973. However, democratic developments, such as the peaceful transition of power in the Philippines and Indonesia in 2001, can help to further strengthen the economic situation in the region, which in turn could lead to stronger democratic systems in many countries of the region. South Asia, however, seems to be in a deadlock. The economic reforms in India are not proceeding as well as expected and the political problems of the region increased after the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in 1998. The situation is further complicated by the unresolved Kashmir conflict and the situation in and around Afghanistan. If these Asian developments pro-ceed at a positive pace and improve sustainability, Asia can again become the "centre of economic gravity for the twenty first century" as predicted by many experts in the early 1990s. Even if this political and economic re-transformation is slower than growth in the 1980s, Asian countries will again be major partners for the United States and Europe in terms of trade and economic co-operation. In this context the international community has to take into consider-ation the overwhelming importance of the sea-lanes of communication (SLOCs). They are today essential for the well-being of individual na-tions, as globalization fosters interdependency of all nations of the world. SLOCs are the life lines for trade and prosperity, as is proven by the devel-opment of many countries relying heavily on trade, even countries like Germany, not traditionally maritime oriented or a small sized country like Singapore. On the other hand there are large countries which for decades were inward focussed, maritime resources not being their main focus.
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