Letters | Asia’s busy straits must not become the playground of superpower navies
- Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are the caretaker nations of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes but with little regulatory power over the ships passing through. Military vessels must avoid provocative moves and respect territorial integrity
In the landmark 1949 Corfu Channel case, the International Court of Justice held that military vessels may pass through another state’s territorial sea without prior authorisation during peace time as long as the passage is innocent.
Then in 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea codified the concept of transit passage, allowing ships to sail through straits used for international navigation.
While the stricter innocent passage regime empowers coastal states to temporarily suspend the navigation rights of recalcitrant foreign vessels, transit passage provides for unimpeded navigation rights for vessels, including military ones.
The Marine Department of Malaysia reports that annually, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are traversed by about 100 foreign military vessels, which may include cruisers, frigates, destroyers and submarines.
This may pose challenges for the caretaker states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia in ensuring these important waterways are open and safe for international navigation. It may even pose threats to the states’ security.