1. Maritime Freedom

(1) Significance of "Maritime Freedom"

　(i) Historical Significance and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

 From the prehistoric time, oceans were left free to human activities. Then, the modernized European nations introduced the concept of "freedom of the seas" as one of principles of international laws, based on their global values of the high seas. The principle was then culminated to the stipulation of "the International Water Convention" in 1958. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994, fundamentally succeeded that same principle.

 The concept of so-called "Maritime Freedom," which is the right of free activities over oceans and seas derived from the "freedom of the seas," can be defined as the right of coastal countries to freely use oceans and seas as much as possible, if they observe a certain international rule, and if the range of activities does not obstruct the sovereign right and jurisdiction of other coastal countries as defined in international laws such as UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This "Maritime Freedom" can be divided to two major categories of "the Freedom of Maritime Navigation," which is the freedom to use sea lines of communications (SLOC), and "the Freedom of Maritime Activities", which is the freedom to use various oceanic resources.

　

　(ii) "Mutual development or confrontation?" - Maritime Freedom is a key

---"Freedom of Maritime Navigation" is essential to deepen the mutual dependency of international economies---

 Relieved from ideological confrontation by the end of the Cold War, the international community has seen the drastic lowering of barriers against international exchanges, and much smoother distribution of goods and information throughout the global economy, as transport infrastructures rapidly develop and the dissemination of science and technologies drastically advance, especially in the information and communication sector. Former socialist countries' transition to market economy system, and the rapid economic growth of developing countries have enabled various international economic cooperation to bear more fruitful results, and increased the mutual dependency in a global economy. The transport and distribution of goods, which are essential functions to maintain and develop global dependency relationship, becomes even more important, and especially the maritime transport, which is an economic and suitable mean for the mass transport of goods, is realized as an indispensable factor, thereby further increasing the significance of the "Freedom of Maritime Navigation" more than ever.

 On the other hand, if any dangerous situation for SLOC have arisen by whatever the reason, and the Freedom of Maritime Navigation is threatened, as demonstrated by the Gulf War, this Iraq War, and Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996 when China launched ballistic missiles over the Strait, then it will not only cause significant adverse effects on economies but also for the security of the region and specific countries.

 Therefore, there is a growing need to develop some kind of solidarity and cooperative activities among coastal countries bordering SLOC zone, in order to secure "the Freedom of Maritime Navigation".

　

 ---"The Freedom of Maritime Activities" becoming the platform of confrontation over the acquisition of oceanic resources---

 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines various terms such as territorial water, islandal waters, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and continental shelf, and allows coastal countries to have the sovereignty over territorial water, and the sovereign right for natural resources and the jurisdiction for environmental protection and other activities in EEZ and continental shelves. By establishing EEZ and others for coastal countries, almost half of seas and oceans of the Earth have come under the jurisdiction of some countries.

 According to the original meaning of EEZ based on the basic philosophy of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the sovereign right of coastal countries is the right to manage oceanic resources of EEZ, i.e. the authority for executing the obligation of resource management and not the right to monopolize the use of resources. In reality, however, the efforts of various countries to define EEZ have not resolved the issue so smoothly, in a tangle of oceanic interests and historical disputes over territories.

 Especially the increased interests over rich oceanic resources including fish and sea bottom resources, in expectation of the future trend of terrestrial resource depletion, lead to the rise of nationalism in developing countries, fuel their energies to interfere with the vested interests of developed countries, and thereby intensify state-to-state confrontations over the acquisition of oceanic resources. In proof of this, we have already seen heated debates either in international conference for the protection and nurturing of fish resources, or in intergovernmental negotiation on the belonging of deep ocean resources, which was arisen along with the entry into force of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. These also emphasize the importance of "the Freedom of Maritime Activities" for each country, under certain established international and regional rules.

　

　(iii) Urgent need to build consensus on "Maritime Freedom"

 As seen here, the importance of "Maritime Freedom" to guarantee "the Freedom of Maritime Navigation" and "the Freedom of Maritime Activities" will not diminish but rather increase in the 21^st Century in the aspects of security and economic activities. At the same time, various factors that can obstruct "Maritime Freedom" are in fact becoming more apparent everywhere in any region and the world. Although everyone agrees and understands the importance of "Maritime Freedom" to be broadly enjoyed by the world under the consensus among relevant countries, to implement and secure such freedom is not that easy. Since SLOC has a unique characteristic of connecting one region to another with oceans being the connector, it is urgently needed to build a consensus on "Maritime Freedom" by identifying shared benefits among regional beneficiary countries as much as possible, and cooperatively realizing and securing such freedom.

　

(2) Significance of "Maritime Freedom" in the integrated region of Indi-Asia & West-Pacific

　(i) "Maritime Freedom" having decisive importance in the integrated region

 Needless to say, the economies of East-Asia & West-Pacific region have much greater degrees of dependence on oceans than any other regions in the world, and find extremely significant strategic values in the oceans. The dynamically growing economies of East-Asia & West-Pacific region in recent years cannot be talked about without the presence of oceans, which is the medium of regional economic communication, while the source of promising oceanic resources that can secure further economic development of regional coastal countries. "Maritime Freedom" is widely recognized as a decisive and important factor in the development of the region as a whole.

 In the Indian Ocean region, on the other hand, the Maritime Freedom used to draw comparatively lower interests from East-Asia & West-Pacific regional countries, despite its prominence in adjoining East-Asia & West-Pacific region. Recently, however, this region, especially the Northern Indian Ocean region that connects Europe and Middle East regions to East-Asia & West-Pacific region, seems to have developed greater awareness on the importance of "Maritime Freedom" in terms of economic and security aspects.

 In economic aspects, the Northern Indian Ocean region tend to be seen as the region with less dynamism than East-Asia & West-Pacific region, but India has kept about 5.7% economic growth in average for the last several years. Even as a whole region of the Northern Indian Ocean (including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh) the economic growth rate has been solid with the record of 5%, and some anticipates even greater growth in the future. Especially, it is worth noting that the East-Asia & West-Pacific region and Northern Indian Ocean region are rapidly developing their mutual dependency, as shown in the growth rate of inter-regional trade in recent years (1.5 times increase in the last 3 years).

 At this time, we also need to recognize that the land-route connections between Northern Indian Ocean region and East-Asia & West-Pacific region are still rough, so the dependence on "Freedom of Maritime Navigation" inevitably grows larger, while "the Freedom of Maritime Activities" including the use of sea bottom resources and fisheries becomes a key for the future development of both regions. Because of these facts, if the situation arises that would deprive the "Maritime Freedom" from these regions, and then it is self-evident that both regions will suffer colossal adverse effects on their economies and regional securities.

 In other words, we must recognize that there is a need to consider these East-Asia & West-Pacific region and Northern Indian Ocean region as an integrated region called the "Indi-Asia & West-Pacific" region, in the future, based on the solidarity and cooperation between two regions in terms of securing the "Maritime Freedom" for both economy and security aspects.

　

 (ii) Guaranteeing the development through commerce activities via oceans in the integrated region --- "Freedom of Maritime Navigation"

 After the end of the Cold War, the efforts to build multilateral frameworks have accelerated with economies in the center, and the largest of these is the Summit/Ministerial Meetings of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). APEC is an organization that includes countries in East-Asia & West-Pacific region, in which about 39% of 5.5 billion world population participates, and the total GDP of member countries exceeds 48% of the world, making this world's largest framework of regional economic integration. These moves mean that the world is pursuing the possibilities of further economic development by seeking economic partners within the region, and winning the competition with other regions in this age of borderless economy.

 The countries of Northern Indian Ocean region are not participants of APEC, but share 22% of world population (17% for India only), and the total GDP of regional countries share 2% of the world total. In addition, the these relationship with East-Asia & West-Pacific region countries is growing since the end of 1990's, and is expected to increase further in the future.

 Geopolitically, the oceans in the Indi-Asia & West-Pacific integrated region are sole and largest transport routes connecting regional countries, so "the Freedom of Maritime Navigation" has definite importance in this region, compared with other regions.

 In view of Japanese economy, in turn, Japan has played the role of a driving force in the Indi-Asia & West-Pacific integrated region undoubtedly through oceans as a medium, and has been an essential pole of international distribution of labors within the region. Because of these, Japan needs to take responsibilities in contribution for the stable and secure commerce activities via regional waters.

　

　(iii) Promising supply source of resources in the integrated region--- Freedom of Maritime Activities

 The population problems, one of global issues, are extremely severe in the Indi-Asia & West-Pacific integrated region. The largest problem can be found in China, where it is likely to have serious food security problem in the future. In proof of this, China has shown the decreasing trend in its food self-sufficiency rate, while increasing dependence on fishery or others.

 However, fish stocks can be depletable, and despite multilateral and bilateral agreements to decide the contents of rules for the collection, ban, and control of resources, increase in the number of incidents such as frictions over fishing zones and illegal fishing activities is expected in the future, as the dependency on fish stocks increases.

 Around the islands of the South China Sea and the East China Sea, in the Bay of Bengal, and Indian coast in the East Arabian Sea, we find the waters of promising stocks of sea bottom resources, which may potentially affect the economic development of the Indi-Asia & West-Pacific integrated region as a whole. Already, a part of such resources, such as oil, has been explored and developed, but the continuing reports on the presence of promising mineral deposits and natural gas reserves in recent years have heated up the expectations among coastal countries. On the other hand, there is a fact that the intensified struggles over these resources have raised serious concerns over regional security, like the development in the conflicts over islandal territories, as seen in the case of China's aggressive advancement into oceans, such as the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

　

　(iv) Security in the integrated region --- Solidarity measures to secure the "Maritime Freedom"

 From the security perspective, the integrated region in this report almost agrees with the "unstable arc extending from the Bay of Bengal to North-East Asia" described in the 01QDR of US issued immediately following the 9.11 terrorist attacks.

 As mentioned before, it is important to secure the "Maritime Freedom" in the region as a whole for commerce and resource security, in order to guarantee the stability and future development of the integrated region. In addition, it is now necessary to focus on the relationship between the East-Asia & West-Pacific region and Northern Indian Ocean region in terms of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles to rogue nations and non-nation entities such as international terrorist organizations, as they have become the source of security concerns in the integrated region.

 As demonstrated especially by the Afghan War related to 9.11 terrorist attacks, and maritime blockade operation to stop Al Qaida in Arabian Sea, the relationship between these two regions is getting closer and more relevant, so the need for solidarity measures in the integrated region as a whole is growing further. In fact, the naval forces of US and India had joint patrol operations from April till September 2002, to protect US Navy ships navigating through the Strait of Malacca.

 In addition, there is an urgent need to introduce measures for the integrated region as a whole to confront the infestation of pirates and armed robberies over the oceans, rapidly increasing in the Strait of Malacca and other places since the late 1990's. In terms of such measures, it is still a vivid memory for Japan of the successful re-capture of the commercial ship, Alondora Rainbow, hijacked by pirates at the East Coast of Indonesia in 1999, in cooperation with the Indian Navy and Coast Guards.