Rising Global Tensions Heighten Urgency For Stronger ASEAN Maritime Coordination

By Linda Khoo

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -- As geopolitical tensions intensify and global supply chains come under growing strain, an expert says ASEAN must strengthen collective maritime coordination to safeguard critical sea lanes and maintain regional stability.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the United States (US)–Israel–Iran conflict has exposed the region’s vulnerability to disruptions in food, energy, fertiliser supplies, and logistics chains, underscoring the urgent need to keep ASEAN’s maritime routes safe, open, and resilient.

Maritime analyst and scholar Nazery Khalid said the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea are among the region’s most crucial maritime routes, serving as key corridors for energy flows and global trade across Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific.

He said the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, carries an estimated quarter of global traded goods and two-thirds of global container shipping volumes, while facilitating about one-third of global seaborne oil trade, making it a vital global energy chokepoint.

Nazery warned that there are growing concerns that the West Asia conflict could widen beyond the Gulf and spread to strategic waterways in other regions, including Southeast Asia, raising fears over the potential weaponisation of maritime chokepoints such as the Strait of Malacca.

“If this were to happen, the disruption to shipping traffic in this strategic sealane would trigger dire effects in the region, including energy shortage and supply chain chaos that could threaten economic growth and destabilise regional security,” he told Bernama.

Nazery said key ports along the Strait of Malacca are extensively connected to ports in the Gulf and across the world, with Southeast Asian industries and businesses deeply integrated into global supply chains through maritime trade, making the region highly vulnerable to disruptions along the strategic waterway.

He said the conflict in the Gulf has already disrupted energy transportation through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

The situation, he said, highlights how disruptions at major maritime chokepoints can quickly spill over into global supply chains and energy markets, leaving ASEAN economies particularly vulnerable due to their heavy dependence on maritime trade and imported energy.

Therefore, Nazery said ASEAN already has several mechanisms to strengthen maritime cooperation, particularly in the Strait of Malacca, including the Cooperative Mechanism, Tripartite Technical Experts Group, and the Mandatory Ship Reporting System (STRAITREP), which have helped manage shipping traffic, enhance navigational safety and protect the marine environment.

He said regional maritime security initiatives such as the Malacca Strait Patrol and the Eyes in the Sky joint maritime-air patrols have also played an important role in safeguarding the strategic waterway against non-traditional threats posed by non-state actors.

“The littoral states of the Strait of Malacca and ASEAN should strengthen these existing mechanisms and enhance cooperation to ensure their effectiveness in safeguarding maritime security, protecting the marine environment, and ensuring freedom of navigation and safety for shipping,” he said.

Nazery said ASEAN should also accelerate initiatives such as ASEAN Maritime Connectivity and the ASEAN Single Shipping Market to strengthen regional competitiveness, resilience, and supply chain connectivity.

He added that ASEAN must leverage its collective influence and partnerships with external powers to uphold rules-based trade and freedom of navigation, while safeguarding regional sea lanes from geopolitical disruptions.

“This can also help ASEAN assert its centrality in shaping the regional strategic and security architecture and chart its own destiny instead of being a mere observer of the chess-play between external powers in its regional waters,” he said.

Nazery said ASEAN is also expanding practical maritime cooperation through initiatives such as the proposed ASEAN Maritime Centre in the Philippines, aimed at enhancing maritime coordination, domain awareness and responses to regional security threats.

He said member states are also strengthening cooperation through mechanisms such as the ASEAN Coast Guard Forum and enhanced maritime information-sharing to safeguard critical regional sea lanes.

At the recently concluded 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, ASEAN leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace, security, and stability in regional waters in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The leaders also underscored the importance of strengthening maritime cooperation and coordination to safeguard freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce and secure maritime trade routes.

-- BERNAMA