Editor's Desk
Southeast Asia security market insights and risk environments T
raveling to a country soon after they celebrate the national day of reflection, their Independence Day, should be an opportune time to visit for an insight into the business, political and security posture and capture a sense of the state of the nation. As it was with my recent visits to Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia and with national flags still flying soon after each of their respective Independence Days. As seen from Australia, as well as on centre ground in each of their capital cities, it remains apparent these three dominant Southeast Asian nations face a web of existential threats to their domestic and national security interests. Beyond the regional political and economic challenges, the security threat around illicit trade and people smuggling, drug trafficking, terrorism, pandemics and natural disasters remains inherently high and all will remain within a long term risk environment. Immediately following the G20 Leader’s Summit in China, ASEAN meetings were held in Laos, and followed the ASEAN Regional Forum on political and security issues. Meetings included the 25th ASEAN-China anniversary, alongside the first ever ASEAN-Australia meeting, with each reviewing the strategic partnerships between ASEAN member states and regional partners.
6 | Asia Pacific Security Magazine
Australia has yet some catching up to do and won’t be helped by Islamophobia appearing within the 45th Australian Parliament. According to the UN World Urbanisation Prospects (2014), throughout ASEAN, the percentage of people living in cities is projected to rise from about 47 percent in the mid-2010s to 56 percent in 2030 and then to 67 percent in 2050. The Southeast Asian region remains one of the few places in the world that can combine an abundant labour supply, many coastal cities and port facilities, however growth will rely on good public infrastructure and education. This could be an Australian opportunity, and may still be, but it would appear it is the Chinese taking the initiative, with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank providing substantial additional financing toward such purposes and investors have been referred to talking about the creation of another ‘China’ in Southeast Asia. The amount of construction contracts that China received from ASEAN has amounted to $10 billion, an increase of over 8 percent, year on year. In this issue, we cover the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), one of China’s top shipbuilding and defence groups that builds virtually all People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships, which has been laying a
network of ship and subsurface sensors that it calls the ‘Underwater Great Wall Project’, set to give Beijing an enormous undersea warfare advantage. Through its Underwater Great Wall, China will affirm the so-called ‘nine-dash line’ that it had unilaterally delineated in 1947 to claim as much as 90 per cent of the 2 million sq km expanse of the South China Sea. The line extends to as far as 2,000 km from the Chinese mainland to within a few hundred kilometres of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. And it was this claim that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague debunked in July in the case against China brought before it by the Philippines. Indonesia is seeking greater emphasis on maritime cooperation amid cases of Indonesians being kidnapped in the region’s waters around the Philippines and Malaysia. Each country also has Islamic State sympathisers constantly seeking out new recruits using social media and government security and police agencies are still yet to fully upskill themselves to counter the narrative and identify radicalised individuals. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population and has been the target of frequent terrorist attacks over the past two decades, while other areas are used as training grounds for terrorists. This year has included the January 14