Hideshi Tokuchi, Tokyo EU-Japan Maritime Security Cooperation in East Asia Recovery of the regional balance of power

Japan and the EU have enough reasons to cooperate on maritime security EU-Japan Maritime Security Cooperation in East Asia

by Hideshi Tokuchi, Senior Fellow, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo

the EU have enough reasons to cooperate on this issue. But all gray zone threats are not alike. Russia mainly targets democratic institutions through political subversion, and China’s tactics take on a more materially threatening form. However, they have two things in common. One is that quick response to these threats is critical. The other is that both Russia and China seem vulnerable to powerful information campaigns designed to make them pay a reputational cost for those actions. 1 It is not easy to make them pay this cost, but if we stopped our efforts, it would be exactly what they want. Recovery of the regional balance of power The history of the South China Sea teaches us an important lesson: “Do not create a power vacuum.” China expanded its presence there, exploiting the power vacuum created by the withdrawal of France, the US and the former Soviet Union from Southeast Asia. Any efforts, including joint exercises and maritime security capacity building assistance, to recover a favorable balance of power in the region will be valuable. Maritime domain awareness is critical for early warning and quick response. EU-Japan cooperation for the education and training of regional navies and coast guards will be useful, too. Defence industrial cooperation to help Southeast Asian countries build their capabilities will also be valuable. For Japan, it will be an integral part of the implementation of the vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and should be prioritised in its approach toward the region. 1 Lyle Morris et al., Gaining Competitive Advantage in the Gray Zone: Response Options for Coercive Aggression Below the Threshold of Major War, RAND Corporation, 2019, pp. 89, 133. E U-Japan cooperation is of global importance today. The “transatlantic pivot to Asia” is not an American rhetorical flourish because the basic principles behind the rules-based liberal international order are inherent not only in the US but also in Europe and Japan. However, this international order is a reflection of the American political system, and therefore the role of the US in sustaining the order is special. If the US cannot assume the role now, the EU and Japan should work together to lead it and to engage the US, and make sure it returns to its leading role in support of the rules-based order. Maritime order is important for Europe and Japan as the sea is one. Even the Arctic Ocean should be put into the scope of EU-Japan maritime security cooperation. Because of global warming, the Arctic region is becoming a focal point. New shipping routes in that region would bring Europe and Asia much closer. Meanwhile, China declares itself a near Arctic state, and its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) includes the Arctic Silk Road. The Arctic is also becoming a place of strategic competition of great powers. The marine environment The ocean covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface and is a global ecosystem. Protection of the marine environment is also important in the strategic competition of great powers. For example, China’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea have been causing serious damages to the marine ecosystem. The Permanent Court of Arbitration found that China had caused severe harm to the coral reef environment and violated its obligation to preserve fragile ecosystems, but China does not admit it. With this in mind, I believe that maritime security cooperation between the EU and Japan should include environmental protection. So, article 29 (Maine affairs) of the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement, which lays down in paragraph (a) the rule of law and in paragraph (b) conservation and management of marine ecosystems, should be viewed as one package. Gray zone warfare The nature of the maritime gray zone warfare which China has been engineering in East Asia has a number of commonalities with the hybrid warfare which Russia has been engineering in Europe. Both straddle the military and non-military domains and are associated with low-intensity violation of national sovereignty under the threshold of an armed attack. So, Japan and Hideshi Tokuchi is a senior fellow at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies and a visiting fellow of Sophia University’s Institute of International Relations. He has served as Japan’s first Vice-Ministerof Defence for International Affairs from July 2014 to October 2015. In the Ministry of Defense Mr Tokuchi also had served as the Director-General of four bureaus such as operations and defence policy. Photo: private “ Maritime domain awareness is critical for early warning and quick response”