The new concept of "Securing the Oceans" should be highly appreciated in the sense that it is the attempt to grasp the security of the oceans as a whole in a comprehensive manner. More than twenty years have passed since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the limitations of the respective and fragmented approach of the rules concerning the law of the sea have started to be pointed out. We should now re-examine the real meaning of the words, "international cooperation" which are often used in the UN Convention.

　

 It is possible to see the extensive development of international cooperation among non-governmental actors or of national legislation in the Asian region. However, to realize to "secure the oceans," further development of inter-States or intergovernmental cooperation is required in addition to the ones among non-governmental actors in this area. It is often pointed out that too much emphasis on the sovereignty of States and the wide variety of the national institutional systems prevent the development of inter-States or intergovernmental cooperation.

　

 The words "international cooperation" may imply wide range of meanings. The least strict cooperation could be realized by the conclusion of treaties with the view to set the common aims to be reached by that treaty and to provide the international procedures to verify the implementation and fulfillment of those aims. It might be suggested that such a flexible way of cooperation is most suitable to the present situation in Asia.

　

 It should be highly appreciated to propose a new principle of "securing the oceans" from Asia with the view to figure out the future perspective for the oceans because the ocean areas in Asia are highly accessed for various purposes and are heavily depended upon by the inhabitants there. It is also significant for Asia to play a guiding role for the future ocean management or governance. The task to be challenged is to examine how to expand the new concept of "Securing the Oceans" in international community as a whole.

　

　

 The new concept of "Securing the Oceans" examined through the conferences in 2002 and in 2003 should be highly appreciated in the sense that it is the attempt to grasp the security of the oceans as a whole in a comprehensive manner. It should be considered to be the challenge to the traditional approach by which various aspects of the marine issues are examined and regulated respectively.

　

 The traditional approach to the marine issues is to divide the ocean areas into territorial sea and high seas and, since the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the division of exclusive economic zone, continental shelf and deep seabed has been introduced. The law of the sea is considered to provide suitable rules on the assumption of such a division of ocean areas and to provide appropriate rules to regulate each issue, for example, respective species for fisheries, environment, security or human activities relating to oceans.

　

 The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is a single instrument that deals with all the marine issues and does not permit reservations. However, it provides rules regarding to each field respectively on the basis of the division of the ocean areas and does not provide the fundamental notions or principles which can be applied commonly to all the issue in a comprehensive way. We have gradually noticed the necessity of such a comprehensive principle during the twenty years since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in accordance with the increasing complexity of the marine problems. The ideas of the protection of marine ecosystem as a whole, of the cooperation beyond different maritime areas, of ocean governance and of large marine ecosystems reflect the necessity of the comprehensive approach to the whole system of ocean security. We should now realize the limitations of the fragmented approach to the law of the sea and re-examine the concrete meaning of the words, "international cooperation" which are often mentioned even in the UN Law of the Sea Convention.¹

　

 The Asian ocean areas definitely play an important role in international community as a whole. In particular, we should consider the variety of species living in the Asian ocean areas and that the inhabitants heavily depend upon the ocean in Asia. The importance of fisheries and navigation should be also taken into account in this area. We should seek the way for effective international cooperation on the basis of a comprehensive notion and policy for the future of the Asian ocean areas.

　

 In the past two conferences, the active operations of the PEMSEA, the development of the security system for the Strait of Malacca under the auspice of the IMO and the sectional cooperative work of the national navies were reported. From these reports, the evolving processes of international cooperation at the level of non-State actors are obvious and the successful results of such processes have proved the importance and effectiveness of non-States cooperation. Such a way of cooperation might be suitable for the Asian cultural background and for the variety of State systems. It also facilitates flexible and substantive activities. Therefore, international cooperation among non-State actors will increase its significance and should be further fortified.

　

 It is also significant to see the developments of the national legislations and of the municipal systems for the marine issues in Asian States, for example, the establishment of the integrated maritime agency in Korea or the series of national legislation in Indonesia to implement the UN Law of the Sea Convention. These phenomena reflect the increasing interests in the implementation of the UN Law of the Sea Convention in these states and should be highly appreciated.

　

 Compared with the cooperation among non-State actors and the development of national legislations and systems, the international cooperation among States has not sufficiently developed yet in Asia. In order to realize to "secure the oceans," further efforts for the development of inter-States or inter-governmental cooperation are required in addition to the ones among non-governmental actors. Although it is often suggested that too much restriction on the sovereignty of States is not appropriate in Asia and that the wide variety of the culture or of the national institutional systems hinters the development of inter-States or inter-governmental cooperation in Asia, the effective measures to secure the oceans cannot effectively be taken without inter-States cooperation mainly for two reasons.

　

 As the first reason, the importance of the multi-leveled cooperation should be pointed out. In the current international community, international cooperation should be executed at multiple levels. The cooperation among non-State actors cooperation should be supported and supplemented by inter-State or inter-governmental cooperation and vice versa. In particular, we should notice that one of the main targets of the concept of "securing the oceans" is the fight against piracy or terrorism. It is true that the fundamental cause of such serious crimes is the poverty on the land region and the essential significance of the cooperation pursued by NGOs can never be denied. However, the improvement of the social welfare and of the education systems can be executed and maintained only by States. Moreover, the arrests and prosecution of criminals is essential requirement for the purpose of the elimination of serious crimes and such process can be executed only the States that have the competence of legislation and execution.

　

 The second reason for the necessity of inter-States cooperation is that the framework established by States by the way of treaties is one of the manifestations from Asia to the international community. There are numerous publications in which various patters of regional cooperation are described but the many of them tend to focus on the inter-governmental cooperation in Europe, in Africa or in Latin America on the basis of treaty arrangements. Treaty arrangements as such can be considered to be the evidence of the existence of cooperation system.

　

 It should be suggested that in Asia it is now necessary and also possible to establish the duty of States to cooperate in the form of some treaty system. The present evolving situation of non-State actors cooperation might provide a very good basis for such inter-State cooperation.

　

 The words "international cooperation" implies a wide range of meanings. Within such a wide range of the meanings, the least strict cooperation could be to "act together" on the assumption of the respect of the State sovereignty. To act together can be realized by the conclusion of treaties with the view, firstly, to establish common aims to be reached by that treaty and, secondly, to provide the international procedures to verify the implementation and fulfillment of those aims in each Contracting States.

　

 Such a form of cooperation puts the emphasis on the respect of State sovereignty and leaves a wide room for discretion of each Contracting State regarding to the jurisdiction toward its territory and the people in it and to the choice of the measures to attain the aims set by the treaty. If such a flexible cooperation is opted, it might take longer time to attain the aims provided in a treaty or there might remains differences in the level of achievement.

　

 It is true that there is a different type of cooperation under which the treaty provides detailed and substantive norms or unified standards and the Contracting States are under the obligation to act in accordance with the treaty obligations. The treaty also establishes the international procedure for the implementation of these duties. For Example, the treaties for the environmental protection in the Baltic Sea² or Black Sea³ provides for a strict and detailed duty for integrated international cooperation. The strictest type of cooperation can be accepted by States which share common backgrounds and are ready to abandon partially its sovereignty to international bodies in relation to the field of that treaty.

　

 Considering the current emphasis on the respect of State sovereignty in Asia, it might be concluded that a flexible and less strict way of cooperation is suitable to the present situation in Asia. Thus, it is necessary to find the way to make such cooperation effective. For that purpose, first element should be the concrete aims formulated in a treaty. To identify such aims, the new concept of "securing the oceans" plays a guiding role. The second element should be the establishment of international procedure to secure the implementation of the treaty-based aims by each Contracting State. Such international procedure should be deliberately designed in order not to obligate the Contracting States too much restrictions on the exercise of their sovereignty. One of the possible solutions might be to provide the duty for Contracting States to establish some sort of national centre to monitor the conditions of the related sea areas or to exchange information for the purpose of the implementation of the treaty obligations. The purpose of monitoring is to collect and accumulate the scientific or statistical data concerning the fields which are regulated by the treaty. The accumulation and exchange of such information could contribute to the accurate conditions of the relevant areas. The duty to exchange the relevant information is to secure the transparency and the trust among the Contracting States. For this purpose, the information to be exchanged should include in particular the national legislations or measures to be planned.

　

 Regular monitoring in the field of environmental protection or fisheries, the parameters to be monitored and modalities to be taken should be harmonized and standardized. Moreover, the report of the data to be reported to the centre in a standardized form plays an essential role. Such a monitoring system contributes to the technical assistance, transfer of technology and stimulation of research. It also facilitates the risk assessment, the effectiveness and the future design of prevention programs and the operations in the case of emergency. It is also important to secure the publication of the results of monitoring and access to them. Even the NGOs or private individuals should be allowed to access the information as far as such non-governmental institutions can satisfy the basic requirement. Such an access might be effective for the purpose to stimulate the research of the oceans and international exchange of scientists. It might also lead to the monitoring by an international centre or to the joint monitoring by national centers.

　

 By the process of the exchange of information, the knowledge about the relevant national legislations and systems in each State can be shared by all other Contracting States. In particular, the system for the exchange of information in the field of the fights against piracy or terrorism, the centres established by each Contracting States shall accumulate the information about the criminals or crimes in a unified form and, in an appropriate case, the information should be prepared to be exchanged among the Contracting States. Such a inter-State system will facilitate the arrest and punishment of criminals. In this case the exchangeability of the information should be emphasized and efforts should be made to harmonize the forms.

　

 It should be highly appreciated to propose a new principle of "securing the oceans" from Asia with the view to figure out the future perspective for the oceans because the ocean areas in Asia are highly accessed for various purposes and are heavily depended upon by the inhabitants there. It is also significant for Asia to play a guiding role for the future ocean management or governance. The task to be challenged is to examine how to expand the new concept of "Securing the Oceans" in international community as a whole.