When discussing the status of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (hereinafter referred to as the Straits) for Asia, no better expressions can be found than "the Straits are a lifeline to the Asian economy." Given the significance of shipping routes in the Straits, this grand statement would be not an exaggeration at all.

 Increased globalization and greater interconnection worldwide resulted in the growth of global trade. As global trade increases, sea borne trade also continues to grow, with much of growth in dangerous and hazardous cargoes such as crude oil, petroleum products, LNG, chemicals etc. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 95% of the world's commerce is carried by ship.

 Likewise oceans also hold the key to the Asian economy. Much of economic growth in Asia is tied up with oceans since it primarily rests with sea borne trade with extra-regional states. In fact, the engine of a brilliant economic growth in the region in recent decades has been trade. For Korea, 99.8% of its trade is shipped by sea transportation. Much of its trade with extra-regional states, such as the U.S., European States, and the Middle East, is transported through the Straits. For Japan and China, the Straits are also vital to their economies since their sea trade is mostly shipped through the Straits, of which 90 percentage of the oil shipping of Japan is dependent on the Straits. For such reasons, those countries further consider security of the Straits a national security agenda. Therefore, they are exceptionally concerned about a possible enormous disruption to their economies when the Straits are closed due to accidents, piracy or terrorism.

　

 The United States, the world's largest trading nation, also has enormous economic interests in keeping the Straits open, given that 30% of world trade and 50% of oil transportation worldwide passes through the Straits annually. With the threat of maritime terror growing, the United States fears that vessels passing through the narrow Straits would become easy targets of terrorist attacks, which aim to disrupt global commerce.

 Despite such significance, an issue with respect to the Straits remains unresolved: how to share the burden of ensuring the safety of navigation among littoral states and user states. The states off the Straits such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have voiced their position that user states (or trading states), which are the primary beneficiaries of the Straits, should shoulder some burden of securing the Straits on the mutual benefit basis. However, many of the user states remain reluctant to share the burden. Efforts by the littoral states to come up with a mechanism to give effect to Article 43 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) have not been successful due to different interests and views of the states concerned.

 This paper first explores the status of the Straits and the regimes governing the Straits. Then it takes a look at efforts by the Korean government and presents challenges to burden sharing from a global governance perspective.

　

 The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are a narrow waterway between Singapore and the Sumatra Island of Indonesia. The Straits, which are 900kms long and connect Far East Asia to the Middle East Asia and Europe, are strategic shipping lanes for the Asian and the global economy. The Straits accommodate annually more than 50,000 commercial ships carrying more than one-third of global trade and one-half of the world's crude oil.

 Despite many navigational hazards in the narrow waterway, the Straits are one of the most widely used waterways for the following reasons; for Very Large Crude Oil Carriers (VLCC), for example, the Straits help shippers save 1,000miles --- equivalent to three days of navigation --- by passing the Straits, in comparison with alternative shipping lanes nearby, including the Sunda Strait, the Makassar Strait, and the Lombok Strait. In addition, well-equipped navigational infrastructures such as Traffic Separation Schemes (TSS) in the Straits help ensure the safety of navigation and a swift response to sea accidents².

　

　

 For the users of the Straits by shipowners in 1999, as shown in Table 1, Japan ranks the highest, with 13,764 vessels of traffic volume (18.2%) and followed by Singapore (13%), China (7.5%), and Greece (7.2%). Korea accounts for relatively a small portion of traffic volumes in the Straits, as opposed to its status as a major trading state in Asia. This is because the Korean shipping industry tends to prefer chartered ships.

 In terms of traffic volumes by flag states as shown Table 1, Panama is the largest user state of the Straits, accounting for 26.3 percent of the total traffic volumes and followed by Singapore (13.3%), Liberia (7.1%), Malaysia (6.5%), and Cyprus (4.5%). Table 1 shows that traffic volumes in the Straits by flag states greatly differ from those by shipowners. Flag of convenience ships contribute to the differences. Shipping companies of trading states register at those states to save taxes by taking advantage of flags of convenience, which is a unique practice in the shipping industry.

　

 Apart from flag of convenience of ships, the data in Table 1 indicates that the users of the Straits are mostly Asian countries, accounting for approximately 57% of the traffic volumes by shipowners.

　

 Ensuring the safety of navigation in the Straits is vital to Asian economies. The rapid economic growth in Asia, especially East Asia, and with its accompanying greater energy demand renders the Asian economies increasingly dependent on the sealanes in the region to transport energy resources.

　

 For the purpose of ensuring the freedom of navigation in the Shipping Lanes of Communication (SLOC), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides three regimes; innocent passage for foreign vessels passing territorial waters of a state; transit passage in straits used for international navigation; archipelagic sea lanes passage in waters off small islands³.

 The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are mostly within the territorial waters of the littoral states, but they are straits used for international navigation. The Straits are international straits in which ships are allowed to exercise transit passage for international navigation between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone. In straits used for international navigation, all ships enjoy the right of transit passage, which shall not be impeded. Transit passage means the exercise in accordance with the freedom of navigation solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of the strait between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone (UNCLOS Article 37). Article 34 under UNCLOS stipulates that the regime of passage through straits used for international navigation shall not affect the exercise by the States bordering the straits of their sovereignty or jurisdiction over such waters.

 UNCLOS also prescribes the duties of ships during transit passage for which ships, while exercising the right of transit passage, shall; i) proceed without delay through the strait; ii) refrain from any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of states bordering the strait; iii) refrain from any activities other than those incidents to their normal modes of continuous and expeditious transit; iv) comply with generally accepted international regulations, procedures and practices for safety at sea; and v) comply with generally accepted international regulations, procedures and practices for the prevention, reduction and control of pollution from ships.

 User states enjoy the right of transit passage through the strait without the impediment of the littoral states, unless ships through the strait violate the duties. For the part of the littoral states, they need to ensure transit passage of ships, subject to UNCLOS, in the international straits as well as territorial waters of the littoral states.

 The Straits of Malacca and Singapore as international straits annually accommodate hundreds of thousands of vessels. While ships exercising transit passage through the Straits, the burden of keeping the Straits clean from pollution by bilge, ballast, and oil spill from hundreds of thousands of ships; and safe from sea accidents; and threats of piracy and maritime terrorism is solely placed on the littoral states.

　

 The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are becoming one of the most vulnerable shipping lanes to maritime terrorism and piracy. As chokepoints to Asia, the Straits, as pointed out earlier, accommodate annually more than 50,000 commercial ships carrying more than one-third of global trade and one-half of the world's crude oil. This might be a good attraction to terrorists who seek to disrupt a global economy by disrupting the strategic shipping lane. In fact, the ships passing through the Straits are exposed to the vulnerability of maritime terrorism.

 In the wake of Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., there has been a growing fear that terrorists might target ships loaded with strategic goods passing through the Straits. A likely scenario is that a ship carrying hazardous cargoes such as petroleum, LNG, LPG is attacked by terrorists, and the Straits are closed as a consequence. This event might have an enormous bad impact on the regional and the global economy.

 Another pressing issue with respect to security in the Straits is the threat posed by piracy. The Malacca Strait in particular is one of the piracy prone areas, in which the isolated water accounted for 10% of piracy incidents worldwide during the last decade. The number of piracy attacks in the Malacca Strait has been greatly increasing since 1998 as well. Piracy in the Malacca Strait is much more than the statistics, given its status as a strategic shipping lane in the global trade, and the victim ships attacked, mostly large vessels carrying strategic goods. It is estimated that the annual amount of damage by piracy attacks reaches 450 million dollars. Pirates equipped with heavy weapons and high-speed boats take advantage of the unique maritime geography for piracy attacks and escape.

 However, sovereignty disputes over the integrity of maritime boundary among Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore often keep a swift and effective response to piracy incidents from being implemented. Sovereignty concerns are also becoming a barrier to international cooperation to secure the Straits of Malaysia and Singapore.