The Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) and University of Warsaw hosted a international conference in Warsaw to discuss in-depth the current maritime security challenges in East Asia.
East Asia is a large seascape. As Japan and other regional countries depend much on the maritime space for their survival and prosperity, it is critically important to maintain the rules-based maritime international order. The most serious challenge is China’s maritime expansion in the absence of any overarching regionwide multilateral security framework. China tries to alter the status quo not only by the PLA Navy but also by its maritime law-enforcement organization and by maritime militia under the disguise of civilian fishermen. China’s coercive activities in the vicinity of Japan’s Senkaku Islands as well as in the South China Sea have been continuing.
As East Asia is at the forefront of the great power competition, the regional security environment will continue to be volatile and unstable. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also been casting a long shadow on East Asia as well by swaying the rules-based international order.
In this situation, it is increasingly important for the international community to share the correct recognition on the East Asian security environment and also to be reminded of the importance of the principle of the rule of law. Creation of a number of emerging minilateral initiatives in the Indo-Pacific region such as the Quad and AUKUS is noteworthy in this context. How to generate synergy of these initiatives by intertwining all of them will be an important challenge for all the relevant regional and extra-regional actors.
With these as the backdrop, we hosted the international conference and hold the public seminar in Warsaw.The public seminar is now available as a video. Please take a look. The speakers are as follows.
-PROFESSOR JAY BATONGBACAL (UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES)
-DR. BART GAENS (SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, GLOBAL SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE RESEARCH PROGRAM, FINNISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS)
-PROFESSOR RUHANAS HARUN (NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA)
-PROFESSOR RAUL PEDROZO (CHARLES H. STOCKTON CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW, U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE)
-PROFESSOR EDWARD HALIZAK (UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW)
-MR. HIDESHI TOKUCHI (Reseach Institute for Peace and Security)