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Transnational security issues in the Asian maritime environment: responding to maritime piracy

Asian waters are geographically positioned as a lifeline for international maritime trade and commerce. Individual coastal state maritime interests aside, there is a legitimate international interest in ensuring international straits are safe for the vast volumes of merchant shipping transiting the region each day. The willingness of states external to the Asian region to become involved when maritime stability is threatened is well illustrated through an examination of the incidence of maritime piracy. The fact that the Asian states, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, bristled at the principally Western interest in seeking enhanced maritime security indicates that at least in this instance, regional cooperation was driven more by a desire to keep Western powers out than a desire to work with neighbouring governments. This article examines the pattern of piracy and the regional initiatives which have been successful in reducing the number of reported incidents. It concludes that not only are effective regional responses to transnational security issues such as maritime piracy and illegal fishing in Asia unlikely, in the absence of intervention from the international community, but that states with sovereign interests at stake in the issue prevent the kind of broader international interest and participation needed to compel more cooperative regional action.