Australian Maritime Issues 2007 - Royal Australian Navy

International Cooperation in the War Against
Terror in the Asia-Pacific Region with a Special
Emphasis on the Malacca Strait
The Center for International Security and Strategic Studies at Mississippi State
University, the Center for US-Japan Studies and Cooperation of the Institute for Public
Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University, and the Tokyo-based Asian Security Forum
undertook to evaluate the level of threat from Al Qaeda and local terrorist groups in
the Asia-Pacific region. These organisations analysed the current level of international
cooperation to counter these threats with a special emphasis on safeguarding the
Malacca Strait, and evaluated the potential threat of bio-terrorism. While these issues
are well known in Asia, they have less visibility and have received less policy attention
in the United States (US).
A multinational study group was formed – comprising experts from Australia, Indonesia,
Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the US – representing the
countries most affected by terrorism and concerned user states. These issues were
considered at a workshop held over 8-9 March 2006 at Mississippi State University,
which provided a neutral venue for the exchange of frank and even blunt opinions to
help everyone understand each other’s concerns in order to develop comprehensive
solutions.
The workshop comprised three sessions. The first, ‘Policy Issues and Perspectives:
Setting the Stage’, provided the opportunity to discuss the official government policies
of external powers in the region, and to analyse those policies and the possible maritime
threats in the Malacca Strait. The second session, ‘ASEAN Perspectives’, presented the
views of and issues facing maritime South East Asia. The third session, ‘Cooperative
Measures’, examined how cooperation against international terrorism in maritime
Asia might be enhanced.
With the permission of Mississippi State University, four papers are included in this
publication. These papers provide a general overview of the need for cooperation, and
examine such cooperation from an Australian, Malaysian and Singaporean maritime
perspective. Importantly, these views expressed are those of individual authors and
not of the governments or institutes with which they may be associated.