Volume 9, Number 3.1 15 March 2014

Editorial Team

Cmde PK Banerjee Cdr Rikeesh Sharma Mr. Panneerselvam Prakash

Address National Maritime Foundation Varuna Complex, NH-8, Airport Road New Delhi-110 010, India Email:

Acknowledgment: ‘Making Waves’ is compilations of maritime news published in various national and international newspapers, journals, and with minor editorial change, are for research and study only and not for commercial purposes websites. NMF expresses its gratitude to all sources of information. These articles are taken from source directly.

The Fortnightly e-News Brief of the National Maritime Foundation

Inside this Brief

! Maritime Editorial………….pg.2

! Maritime Security…...........pg.23

! Shipping News……………pg.46

! Maritime Environment……pg.52

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" China's Civilian Fleet a Potent Force in Asia's Disputed Seas

" Bangladesh: Looking East to Play Key Regional Role – Analysis " Borderline Views: Defending Israel on the High Seas " Counter-terrorism, piracy high on radars of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives " Japan, U.S. Differ on China in Talks on 'Grey Zone' Military Threats " Africa: Fewer Pirates, Different Risks - Africa Needs to Rethink Its Approach to Maritime

Security " South China Sea Disputes: The Gloves are off " Rescue Efforts Mark Baby Cooperation Steps " Ukraine naval base: Russia's Guantanamo?

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China's Civilian Fleet a Potent Force in Asia's Disputed Seas

--Megha Rajagopalan and Greg Torode From harassing Filipino fishing boats and monitoring oil exploration off Vietnam to playing cat-and-mouse with the Japanese coastguard, China's expanding fleet of civilian patrol vessels have become the enforcers in disputed Asian waters. The ships of the recently unified Chinese coastguard are a fixture around the disputed islands and shoals of the South and East China Seas. While the ships don't have the weaponry of military vessels, thus reducing the risk a confrontation could get out of control, they still represent a potent show of sovereignty. The coastguard is funded by China's State Oceanic Administration, a civilian body, although one U.S. naval officer and security experts said it coordinates its operations with the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It includes the 200-strong China Marine Surveillance fleet and is seen as another example of how hard it is to get a true picture of China's defence-related spending, the experts added. China said this week it would increase military spending by 12.2 percent to $131.5 billion in 2014 after a 10.7 percent hike last year. Much spending likely takes place outside the defence budget, however, and many experts estimate real outlays are close to $200 billion, second only to Washington. The U.S. Defense Department's base budget for fiscal 2014 is $526.8 billion. Neither the budget for the marine surveillance fleet, which includes decommissioned warships, nor the overall coastguard is known. Premier Li Keqiang told the opening of China's annual session of parliament on Wednesday that the government would enhance border, coastal and air defences, but he gave no updates on the coastguard's fleet expansions or operations. "The maritime surveillance force has been getting a number of new vessels for the last several years, reflecting growing resources and growing importance," said Dean Cheng of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington. "They are large ... and can help intimidate potential opponents." The State Oceanic Administration and the Defence Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

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Water Cannon and Grappling Hooks Tensions have grown across Asia as China has become increasingly assertive in pressing its claims to disputed territory. In the East China Sea, China and Japan are locked in a bitter row over a group of rocky islands administered by Tokyo. China also claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to the sea, which sits above potentially rich oil and gas deposits. Beijing's civilian fleets now routinely flank both sides of the South China Sea. At times they surround the Scarborough and Second Thomas shoals that China disputes with the Philippines, or patrol contested waters off southern Vietnam, close to oil exploration blocks leased out by Hanoi, according to regional naval officers and analysts. To be sure, China's navy is active across the disputed areas, but is increasingly focused on operations beyond China's near seas. China sent its sole aircraft carrier, the 60,000-tonne Liaoning, on its first training mission into the South China Sea late last year. China bought the Soviet-era ship from Ukraine in 1998 and re-fitted it in a Chinese shipyard. But the coastguard is at the sharp end in defending what China sees as its sovereign territory. Chinese media say its ships tend to be armed with water cannon and grappling hooks. In one of the most recent incidents, Manila protested against the use of water cannon on Filipino fishermen in disputed South China Sea waters on Jan. 27. China said it had every right to respond to "provocative" acts. "What we are seeing now is the PLA Navy moving into broader areas of ocean and fine-tuning their operational training, including combat, leaving the civilian fleets to concentrate on the most sensitive areas," one Asian naval officer said. "It is those fleets that represent the daily assertion of Chinese sovereignty in disputed areas - and we watch them like hawks as a result." Growing Fleet At the last annual parliament session a year ago, China merged four maritime agencies, including the China Marine Surveillance fleet, maritime police and fisheries enforcement vessels, into a unified coastguard under the State Oceanic Administration. The State Oceanic Administration, itself a relatively new body, is charged with administering China's coastal waters and protecting its maritime rights, along with scientific research.

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A recent study by Japan's National Institute of Defence Studies, which conducts research for the Ministry of Defence, noted that little was known about the authority and organisation of the State Oceanic Administration or its relationship with the PLA. In total, the coastguard has 370 vessels, according to figures released last month by the independent International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. The state-owned Global Times newspaper has said the China Marine Surveillance fleet alone had more than 200 vessels, nine marine surveillance planes and 8,400 personnel. It is expected to get 36 new patrol vessels by this summer, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. Many of the marine surveillance ships are old frigates decommissioned from the PLA Navy. In late 2012, Chinese media reported the navy transferred two destroyers to the fleet. Decommissioning usually removes a ship's weapons. China is also building a 10,000-tonne maritime surveillance vessel, the world's largest, the Beijing Times newspaper said last month. It did not say when the ship would enter service. Japan's coastguard, the most technologically advanced in the region, has 389 vessels and 25 aircraft, according to IISS. Japanese officials say they are watching the increasing scope and reach of their Chinese counterparts with alarm. The State Oceanic Administration said last month it would base a 5,000-tonne ship on one of the main islands it controls in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. Indeed, the civilian vessels were playing the role of "antagonist" in the East and South China Seas, Captain James Fanell, director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told a maritime security conference in San Diego last month. "(They are) harassing China's neighbours while PLA navy ships - their protectors - conduct port calls around the region promising friendship and cooperation," Fanell said in what Pentagon officials later said were his private views. "We have heard many senior PLA officers say the PLA navy and the Chinese coastguard efforts are not coordinated. This is simply not true. This campaign is being meticulously coordinated from Beijing." Source: Reuters, 5 march 2014

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Bangladesh: Looking East to Play Key Regional Role – Analysis

-- Rupak Bhattacharjee The strategic location of Bangladesh which connects the nations of South and Southeast Asia helps Dhaka to play a pivotal role in regional forums like Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), ASEAN and the Forum for Regional Economic Cooperation among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM). In addition to SAARC, these platforms offer excellent opportunities for Bangladesh to expand its economic, commercial and cultural ties with the neighbouring nations. The Sheikh Hasina government is keen to develop close relations with the fast growing economies of ASEAN, China and India through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms. Bangladesh is an important member of BIMSTEC — a sub-regional grouping comprising seven geographically contiguous South and Southeast Asian nations in the Bay of Bengal, namely: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. The third summit of heads of state and governments was held at Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar on March 3 and 4. Formed in 2004, BIMSTEC seeks to promote cooperation and strengthen connectivity among the member countries in 14 priority sectors. Some of them include trade and investment, technology, transport and communication, energy, tourism, fisheries, environment and disaster management, counter-terrorism and transnational crime etc. The present summit, held after a gap of six years, is significant for Bangladesh in many ways. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has observed that trade issues would dominate the third summit of BIMSTEC. A number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were finalised to be signed at the summit. The sectors covered by the MoUs include energy, agriculture and tourism. Another MoU inked at the summit paved the way for establishing a secretariat in Bangladesh. BIMSTEC was initiated with the purpose of combining the “Look West” policy of Thailand and the “Look East” policy of India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh is also an integral part of Forum for Regional Economic Cooperation among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM). It was floated on Aug 17, 1999 in a regional conference held at Kunming, the capital of China’s southwestern Yunan province. BCIM is designed to integrate the region economically through market access, investment opportunities and improvement of infrastructural facilities. Bangladesh’s commerce minister has stated that the process for setting BCIM Economic Corridor is at the final stage. He said, “Once it’s set up, trade volume will increase significantly.” Over the years, China has emerged as a key supplier of Bangladesh armed forces’ military hardware and financer of the country’s development and infrastructural projects. Sino-Bangladesh ties have been sustained by the successive governments in Bangladesh since the late 1970’s in the national interest. China also attaches importance to its relations with Bangladesh and competes with India for influence in the South Asian country. The Communist-ruled state became an observer in SAARC primarily due to Bangladeshi initiative.

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Both Beijing and Dhaka consider broader regional cooperation vital to stability and prosperity in the future. The quadrilateral grouping, BCIM Economic Corridor is an effort in that direction.

The proposed transnational highway and railway lines between Bangladesh and Southeast Asian states underscore the geo-strategic significance of the country in the wider regional framework and beyond. Bangladesh is one of the 31 countries associated with the highway project. The Asian Highway would link Bangladesh to 15 countries, provide improved access to Southeast Asia and eventually reduce pressure on Chittagong port. The high potential of bilateral trade with its immediate neighbour Myanmar — a key component of almost all the regional forums, has remained untapped due to the lack of shipping and road connectivity. Bangladesh-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry leaders maintain that Bangladesh stands to benefit from the coastal shipping line as import of basic commodities would be much cheaper, easier and quicker. There is a growing realisation for widening and broadening economic cooperation between ASEAN and Bangladesh in many areas of mutual interest and benefit. Bangladesh was included in the ASEAN Regional Forum on July 28, 2006 as the 26th member. Numerous common economic and security interests persist between both the sides in areas like expansion of trade and investment, agriculture, communication, tourism, transfer of technology and counter-terrorism. ASEAN could make optimum utilisation of the low infrastructure costs, cheap labour and natural gas of Bangladesh. Though Dhaka is yet to emerge as a leading trading partner of ASEAN, the volume of trade between them has been increasing rapidly. Bangladeshi economic analysts are of the opinion that Dhaka and ASEAN should explore the possibilities of a comprehensive trade partnership through free trade agreement. Disheartened by the tardy progress of SAARC, Bangladesh of late is looking towards its eastern horizon to pursue trade and economic interests. This new policy thrust is aimed at integrating Bangladesh’s economy with ASEAN — already an economic powerhouse. Bangladesh’s recent strategy has been to diversify the country’s foreign economic relations in order to relieve itself from over-reliance on its giant neighbour India. Dhaka’s efforts to woo the East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea are to be seen in the light of prevailing ground realities. Bangladesh’s foreign policymakers believe that broader engagement with ASEAN and East Asian countries would better serve its long-term strategic, economic and other interests. However, chronic political instability and crisis of governance might spoil Bangladesh’s chances of emerging as a key regional actor in the foreseeable future. (Rupak Bhattacharjee has worked as Senior Research Fellow at Kolkata’s Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies and New Delhi’s Institute for Conflict Management. He can be contacted at drrupakbhattacharjee_2011@hotmail.com) Source: South Asian Monitor, 07 March 2014

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Borderline Views: Defending Israel on the High Seas

--David Newman Israel will not feel itself bound by any set of laws which limits its maneuverability in the adjacent maritime areas. Had Israeli intelligence sources got it wrong and it had turned out that the Klos-C which was boarded this past week by the Israeli navy was entirely harmless, without any missiles or weapons on board, the global criticism of Israel would not have been long in coming. Israel would have been condemned for infringing the territorial (maritime) sovereignty of other states and of behaving contrary to the accepted norms of maritime jurisdiction, known as the Law of the Sea. The Law of the Sea, governing the rights of states to control the sea area adjacent to their mainland, was drawn up by the United Nations in 1982, following years of difficult negotiations. It took almost 20 years until enough states ratified the UNCLOS convention to enable it to take effect. As of today 163 states have signed up to the UNCLOS convention. Only seven member states of the United Nations have not ratified the treaty, two of these being the United States and Israel. The convention determines a number of maritime zones extending from the land into the seas, in each of which the state has varying powers. The closest zone, known as the Territorial Waters and stretching to a maximum of 12 nautical miles from the coastline (actually from the an imaginary line known as the baseline which allows for the enclosure of bays, large water inlets and even some islands, as part of state territory) in which the state can exercise its full sovereign powers. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace above and seabed below. Other zones include the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which can extend as far as 200 nautical miles from the baseline and in which the state has exclusive rights to maritime resources – be it fisheries, minerals (oil) or other economic assets. The state has the right to license other states to undertake the commercial exploitation of resources, and to receive royalties and percentages by right of “ownership.” Problems in the implementation of the UNCLOS convention occur where there is not sufficient sea area between states to allow for full 12- or 200-mile claims to be made. In such cases, it is normal practice for a median line to be drawn between the states and for each to divide up its own areas to the maximum extent permitted under the convention. Israel is one of many countries unable to lay claim to the full maritime jurisdiction area. Although Israel formally claims the maximum 12-mile territorial waters, this contrasts with the norms which were common in the Mediterranean region, whereby most states claimed less than the full extent. This is even more problematic in the Red Sea where each of the adjacent states – Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia – are located within a small confined space and where each state has to make do with a lot less than the full 12 miles.

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As far as the EEZ is concerned, no state in the Mediterranean is able to lay claim to the full area of exclusive resource exploitation (requiring a distance of 400 nautical miles between opposite coastlines), while the location of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean makes the situation even more complicated. The ability of Israel, or any of her neighbors, to undertake extensive resource exploitation in the Red Sea area is almost negligible. No one in the Israeli government or military establishment was too concerned about the restrictions of the Law of the Sea convention when they set sail last week to prevent the transfer via ship of Iranian missiles to Gaza, some 1,500 kilometers to the south of Israel’s borders. And given the clear results of the military operation, no other state made any objection to the seeming violation of maritime regulations by a country which hasn’t even signed on to the convention. Countries have a right to defend themselves against any form of external military threat and if this means sending the navy way beyond the limits of the territorial waters, no one is going to object – so long as the threat proves to be a real one, as was the case this past week. Israel has a number of maritime jurisdiction issues with respect to the Mediterranean. These include security issues relating to ships transferring weapons to Lebanon, Syria or the Gaza Strip, as well as issues of natural resources which are discovered off the coast. This is particularly problematic with respect to Gaza, which claims its own area of maritime jurisdiction including potential gas reserves. If, and when, Gaza becomes part of an independent Palestinian state, the international conventions will apply and Israel will not have the right to lay any claims to the maritime areas – regardless of whether they have formally ratified the treaty or not. But equally, Israel will not feel itself bound by any set of laws which limits its maneuverability in the adjacent maritime areas and within which it patrols and undertakes surveillance around the clock. In the same way that Israel has operated to prevent shipments of missiles from crossing through Syria in the past on their way to Lebanon, or has reached even further afield inside nuclear reactors in Iraq or Iran, the government will not feel itself bound by any international convention which seeks to limit the exercise of legitimate defensive activities. Unlike the division of land between states, there will always be those areas, known as the “high seas” which remain beyond the formal control of any state, and within which all states have the same rights. But even here, international conventions will come into play concerning critical issues such as piracy, environmental waste disposal and, again, the transportation of weapons and missiles. This remains a gray area for the time being, but as long as countries have the hard proof – as Israel clearly showed at yesterday’s press conference where the seized weapons were laid out in the open for all to see – the international community will not oppose the sort of actions which took place. Every so often, and despite international criticism of Israel’s policies vis a vis the Palestinians, the country’s military pulls off an operation which cannot but arouse grudging global admiration. It happened at Entebbe in 1976, at the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, and again in the seas off the coast of Sudan last week. And for every case that gets reported in the press, there are at least another three to four which never get reported.

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We live in a rough neighborhood and until we ever get to a situation of regional stability – and that doesn’t exactly appear to be anywhere on the horizon right now – we can be thankful of the skill and expertise displayed by our navy last week. (The writer is dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University. The views expressed are his alone) Source: The Jerusalem Post, 12 March 2014.

Counter-terrorism, piracy high on radars of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives

-- Rajeev Sharma Strategic diplomacy is one area which is always work in progress and this work goes on despite local political scenarios. The Indian diplomatic and strategic establishments continue to be hyperactive even though the country is in the middle of general elections and foreign governments are staying engaged with the UPA government despite political projections that the UPA is unlikely to be in government by 1 June. One such work-in-progress was the third National Security Advisor (NSA)-level Trilateral Meeting on Maritime Security Cooperation between Maldives, Sri Lanka and India on 6 March in New Delhi, an event which expectedly failed to rule the media outfits’ TRP. Yet, the event was fairly important for obvious politico-strategic reasons. First of all, it is of vital interest for India that India maintains its prime status in the Indian Ocean. This comparatively new process of trilateral maritime security, which features Sri Lanka and Maldives along with India, is a baby step towards that goal and hence its importance.

Reuters Equally importantly, this event cements New Delhi’s closer security ties with Colombo and Male. India has had running contentious issues and controversies with each of its two partners. This event provides an important platform for the three South Asian countries to stay engaged on security and strategic issues. Then there is the inevitable China factor, the perennial elephant in the room in any South Asian discourse. China is not an Indian Ocean power and yet Beijing has been continuously enlarging its strategic footprints in the region. This is an important red flag for the Indian strategic establishment. The trilateral maritime cooperation involving India, Sri Lanka and Maldives can do precious little to keep the Chinese out of the Indian Ocean nor is it the raison d’être of this small club. But through this process, the three neighbours are keeping in close touch on vital maritime security issues which they would not have done had this process not started in the first place.

Also, this unassuming loose formation is set to expand further in the near future with probable inclusion of Mauritius and Seychelles which attended the 6 March event hosted by India as observers. The clout and capabilities of this process would be significantly enhanced once Mauritius and Seychelles are made full-fledged members of this NSA-level dialogue. During the third NSA-Level meeting in Delhi, the participants reviewed and expressed satisfaction over the progress in the implementation of various activities in the identified areas, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. They also discussed new areas of cooperation including hydrography; training in “visit, board, search and seizure operations”; training on board Indian sail training ships; exchanges between think tanks; and joint participation in adventure activities.

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Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon led the Indian delegation and chaired the meeting. The Maldivian delegation was led by Col (Retd) Mohamed Nazim, Minister of Defence and National Security, and the Sri Lankan delegation by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary, Ministry of Defence and Urban Development. Delegations from Mauritius and Seychelles also participated in the meeting as Guest countries. Motichand Seebah, Permanent Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office, represented Mauritius, while Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented Seychelles. India, Sri Lanka and Maldives launched the Trilateral Cooperation in Maritime Security in October 2011 at the first NSA-level Trilateral Meeting on Maritime Security Cooperation in Maldives. Since then it has become an annual event. Shivshankar Menon put the things in perspective succinctly with these remarks: “If you look at the Indian Ocean, today over a 100,000 ships pass through the Indian Ocean every year. Something like 66 per cent of the world’s oil cargo, over 50 per cent of the world’s container traffic, and something like 33 per cent of the world’s bulk cargo go through the Indian Ocean every year. So it is very important to our economies and in terms of security for all of us. And it is not an issue that any single country can actually solve on its own. So we decided to see what we could do.”

This body is focusing essentially on three big areas: (i) trying to keep a tab on what is going on in the Indian Ocean, (ii) inculcate maritime domain awareness and (iii) to share information on what is happening in real time between the member countries. “We have now actually put in place the systems so that we can share; we see the same picture of what is going on in the maritime area around us. We have trained our people we have nominated; we are putting in place the hardware so that we can share that information. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) has a system, for instance a long-range identification and tracking system for ships. We also have our own automatic identification system data which we now have one platform on which we will be sharing,” Menon said. The next big step for this trilateral maritime cooperation would be its expansion by taking Seychelles and Mauritius in its fold. The two countries attended the Delhi event as observers for the first time and both have evinced their keenness to join the body. The trilateral effort is a commendable step as it enhances practical cooperation among the member countries’ coastguards, navies and various institutions concerned with maritime security.

A concrete deliverable of this trilateral effort is that they now have in place a platform which will actually enhance concrete responses to situations as diverse as piracy, pollution, drug running or counter-terrorism. Counter-terrorism and piracy are on the front burner of this trilateral cooperation. This is what Shivashankar Menon had to say about these two issues: “Counterterrorism is still obviously an interest for all of us. When I say that we share information and we also consider joint action against illegal activities, it includes terrorism. But the immediate threat that we have been facing in the last few years was piracy. That fortunately at least in the Arabian Sea and off the Horn of Africa is down, due to a variety of factors not just what the three of us are doing with this, the whole world has been actually working at that problem. But even though the numbers may be down and it might have decreased because of the effort that we have put in, the primary source of the problem, which is on land, has not been solved.” (The writer is a FirstPost columnist and a strategic analyst.) Source: Firstpost. World, 09 March 2014

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Japan, U.S. Differ on China in Talks on 'Grey Zone' Military Threats

-- Linda Sieg As Japan and the United States start talks on how to respond to armed incidents that fall short of a full-scale attack on Japan, officials in Tokyo worry that their ally is reluctant to send China a strong message of deterrence. Military officials meet this week in Hawaii to review bilateral defense guidelines for the first time in 17 years. Tokyo hopes to zero in on specific perceived threats, notably China's claims to Japanese-held islands in the East China Sea, while Washington is emphasizing broader discussions, officials on both sides say. Washington takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China, but recognizes that Japan administers them and says they fall under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which obligates America to come to Japan's defense. But even as Asia-Pacific security tensions mount, U.S. officials have made clear they do not want to get pulled into a conflict between the world's second- and third-biggest economies. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is alarmed at China's rapid military buildup. Beijing in turn accuses Tokyo of being a regional threat, citing Abe's more nationalist stance, his reversal of years of falling military spending and his visit to a shrine that Asian countries see as glorifying Japan's wartime past. "Japan wants to prioritize discussions on China and clarify the respective U.S. and Japanese roles in the event of a 'grey zone' incident," said a Japanese government official, referring to less than full-scale, systematic military attacks backed by a state but still representing a threat to Japan's security. Tokyo wants Washington to join in drafting scenarios for how the two allies would respond in specific cases, he said. But Washington is worried about provoking China by being too specific, say Japanese officials and experts. "The United States is certainly ambivalent about this because they think it would drag them into a confrontation and possibly a conflict with China," said Narushige Michishita, who was a national security adviser to the government of Junichiro Koizumi from 2004-2006.

A U.S. defense official rejected the idea that Washington worries about antagonizing China but stressed that the guideline review is a broad exercise, including the Korean peninsula and global contingencies.

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"There is a tendency to distil all this back to the Senkaku islands," the official said. "It's not about any particular contingency. It's about making the U.S.-Japan alliance more flexible and responsive to a security environment that's not as black and white as we were thinking about in 1997." Singling out China, the official said, is "too simplistic a narrative". GREY ZONE Underlying Tokyo's concerns are worries that Washington might one day be unable or unwilling to defend Japan, despite President Barack Obama's strategic "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific region. This fear is adding momentum to Abe's drive to beef up Japan's forces while loosening constitutional limits on military actions overseas. If Washington does not get involved in specifically addressing the China threat, "it would undermine the credibility of the alliance and might end up encouraging China to be bolder," said Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. "U.S. policy makers will have to walk a thin line and try to strike a balance between maintaining credibility and deterrence, and preventing excessive involvement in the situation." High on the agenda in Hawaii will be "grey zone" incidents. Japanese government officials offer such hypothetical examples as a landing of Chinese special forces disguised as fishermen on the disputed islands. When the guidelines were last updated in 1997, North Korea's missile and nuclear programs were seen as the biggest threat. Japan was less nervous then about China's military expansion, and issues such as cyber-warfare barely existed. The old guidelines "are too binary," said the U.S. official. "We're either in peacetime or we're on full contingency." This is "far too inflexible and rigid a framework" for today's threats, the official said.

Tokyo's strategic planners have become increasingly concerned about grey-zone incidents since Sino-Japanese tensions over the tiny uninhabited islands increased in 2012. Japanese and Chinese vessels and aircraft regularly play cat-and-mouse in the disputed areas, with Tokyo often scrambling fighter jets against what it says are incursions of its air and sea territory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday there was "no room for compromise" with Japan on questions of history and disputed territory, "each inch" of which it would defend from its Asian neighbor. Dysfunctional Deterrence The guidelines to update the U.S.-Japanese defense alliance, agreed to in October, coincides with Abe's push to bolster Japan's military and ease the constraints of the post-war, pacifist constitution on the country's armed forces. That includes his plan to lift a self-imposed ban on giving military aid to an ally under attack.

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The update, which the two sides aim to wrap up by the end of the year, also follows years of Washington urging Japan to take on a bigger role in the alliance, the core of Tokyo's post-war security policy. But American voters are weary of foreign wars after Iraq and Afghanistan and wary of being entangled in any new conflicts, experts say. "U.S. public opinion is more negative toward involvement in foreign wars than even during the Vietnam War," said former senior Japanese diplomat Yoshiji Nogami, now president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs. "If the alliance is firm, then the chance of (America) being drawn in will be less, but this point is not fully understood by ordinary Americans." Japan has its own headaches over grey-zone incidents. Government officials and many security experts say the authorities must close loopholes between situations where only Japan's Coast Guard and police can act and those where the military can be mobilized. Examples, Abe recently told parliament, could include a foreign submarine lurking in Japanese waters despite repeated warnings to surface and identify itself or leave, and aggression against remote islands to which police or the Coast Guard could not promptly respond. "A legal gap like that at a time when the security environment surrounding our country is getting tougher would render deterrence ... dysfunctional and put the people in grave danger," Abe said. A panel of Japanese security experts is expected to recommend revising laws to close that gap. Washington wants to know how far Japan's military "can expand its roles, missions and capability," said another Japanese official. U.S. involvement in grey-zone incidents could include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the U.S. official said. The guideline review will likely focus in part on strengthening cooperation in those areas, as well as "maritime domain awareness ... early on, possibly in a grey-zone kind of situation," he said. That would be a more likely outcome than more direct military action by U.S. forces, said ex-diplomat Nogami. Where grey-zone tensions are rising, joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance are vital, he said. "The reason that is needed is to prevent the grey zone from becoming black." (Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by William Mallard and Jeremy Laurence) Source: Chicago Tribune, 10 March 2014

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Africa: Fewer Pirates, Different Risks - Africa Needs to Rethink Its Approach to Maritime Security

-- Timothy Walker With incidents of maritime piracy declining and greater awareness of new maritime security threats, the shape and governance of various counter-piracy initiatives and institutions will come into question this year. These typically draw on a narrow definition of maritime security, which emphasises counter-piracy and the repression of armed robbery at sea. However, a critical transition is underway whereby the notion of maritime insecurity is being redefined. Security infrastructure and institutions such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct also need to adapt to this expanded definition. In order to fully protect the African maritime domain, other destabilising issues that cause harm to human security are now being reconsidered. These include illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; human trafficking; the smuggling of narcotics; and circumventing sanctions through the shipment of contraband goods and weapons. To combat and overcome these challenges requires a cooperative and, ultimately, an integrated approach. This expanded notion of maritime insecurity is reflected in the 2050 African Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIMS), which was adopted at the 22nd Annual African Union (AU) Summit in January. The strategy provides member states with many ambitious goals, and signatories and stakeholders now have a vision to work towards - such as establishing a Blue Economy in African waters before 2050. However, it also presents a complex challenge: how should they respond to both the apparent decline of African piracy and the emergence of new threats, while at the same time striving to achieve long-term maritime goals, and this in a context where piracy has been the main, sometimes only, concern? Elsewhere in Africa, the various issues and threats affecting the African maritime domain are already being revised. A code of conduct similar to the Djibouti Code was signed in Yaoundé in June 2013 between the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It is notable for expanding its definition of maritime security to include more than just piracy. So, where does this leave the Djibouti Code and counter-piracy efforts? The Djibouti Code risks becoming a multilateral counter-piracy instrument that actually has few pirates to fight or incidents to share. In response, signatory states are currently preparing for a May 2014 ministerial review to expand its scope, while also creating a new member state owned or steered governing structure.

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The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has now held two sub-regional meetings - in Mombasa in December 2013, and Djibouti in February - where these issues were discussed. The code, which was signed in Djibouti in 2009 between African and Asian states bordering the West Indian Ocean, is one of the most extensive transnational efforts for combatting piracy and armed robbery at sea. It has since been signed by 20 of 21 eligible states and is steered by the IMO's Project Implementation Unit. As signatories, states are expected to review their legislation, support capacity-building efforts and share information on piracy. It is a very technical code as it also encourages members to focus on training, reviewing and harmonising piracy legislation, trust building and creating infrastructure that enables information sharing. The Djibouti Code remains non-binding, which has proved crucial for wide adoption by eligible states. However, it is important that signatories realise its enormous potential for improving maritime security - especially given concerns over the maritime environment and maritime-based transnational crimes such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, arms smuggling and human trafficking. To combat these threats and efficiently utilise current infrastructure - such as the information-sharing centres in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Yemen - requires a revision of the Djibouti Code, possibly drawing on ideas found in the ECCAS-ECOWAS code. It is questionable whether such revisions are in fact possible as member states were initially drawn together to counter piracy and armed robbery; an issue that was agreed to pose an international problem and which made cooperation necessary. In addition, the code remains vulnerable to competing regionalist interests and contexts. The Djibouti Code comprises African states from five regional economic communities (RECs), as well as Asian states. Drawn together around a common and international threat, they otherwise lack a history of sustained political cooperation or a security culture. Arguably, if the Djibouti Code does not also move in a similar direction for an expanded concept of maritime security, it risks becoming obsolete or irrelevant. However, from an African, regional and security studies standpoint, the Djibouti Code represents a laudable starting point upon which to build future maritime security capacity. African maritime stakeholders now need to collaborate and contribute towards the successful implementation of the 2050 AIMS, as well as become involved in both creating and implementing national and regional integrated maritime strategies. There are crucial lessons to be learnt from the process, as successful implementation depends on well-established information-sharing networks, which in turn should be underpinned by trust, technological compatibility and reciprocity.

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East African RECs sorely lack an integrated maritime strategy similar to that of ECCAS, ECOWAS and SADC. As many members of the various RECs - such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); the East African Community (EAC); and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - are also signatories to the Djibouti Code, it is likely that continued participation and implementation could enhance cooperation and integration in other sectors of the African maritime domain. The future shape of the Djibouti Code should be monitored closely. It will prove indicative of how all stakeholders intend to respond to emerging concerns over the governance of the African maritime domain. (Timothy Walker, Researcher, Conflict Management and Peacebuilding Division, ISS Pretoria) Source: allafrica.com, 10 March 2014.

South China Sea Disputes: The Gloves are off

-- Richard Javad Heydarian As the United States and the European Union struggle to find a diplomatic resolution to the Ukrainian crisis, with Russia accused of de facto annexing Ukraine's south-eastern region of Crimea, many in Asia are increasingly worried about a similar flashpoint in the South China Sea. The West's initial prevarications on standing up to Russia - specifically on imposing punitive sanctions against Moscow's policy in Crimea - has set off alarm bells among some US allies in Asia, which are currently locked in a bitter territorial conflict with China. In the Philippines, for instance, many are wondering whether the West will come to the country's rescue if an armed conflict with China erupts in the South China Sea. No wonder, during a recent foreign affairs committee hearing in the Philippine Congress, I noticed many participants anxiously discussing the Western response to Russia's perceived aggression against Ukraine. Across Southeast Asia, there is palpable curiosity over the extent to which Washington and other Western powers are willing to come to the aid of Ukraine amid Moscow's push to consolidate its sphere of influence in the Black Sea. For sure, the Chinese leadership is also closely following the Ukrainian crisis in an attempt to anticipate possible responses to its own territorial manoeuvring in the Western Pacific, which have come under heavy criticism by Washington. While Russia's resurgence, under President Vladimir Putin, has become a major source of concern among many European countries, the rapid emergence of China as an East Asian powerhouse, in turn, has rattled many Asian neighbours. Accustomed to an American-centric order in the Pacific theatre since the end of World War II, some Asian countries have welcomed a greater US strategic footprint in the region to constrain Beijing's perceived territorial expansionism.

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Thus, leaders in Tokyo, Manila, and Hanoi have largely celebrated the Obama administration's so-called "Pivot to Asia" (P2A) policy.Quite similar to Ukraine, Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam have found themselves squeezed between two superpowers, the US and China. With Beijing asserting its "historical" claims to a significant portion of the South China Sea - akin to Russia's expressed commitment to retain its influence in post-Soviet territories such as Crimea - Manila and Hanoi are staking their hopes in the US' wherewithal to push back against China. Unquiet waters While it is true that the South China Sea disputes have been a permanent feature of regional affairs for some decades, recent years have been particularly disconcerting. Since 2009, China has stepped up its para-military patrols in the area, with growing reports of Chinese surveillance vessels "harassing", among others, Filipino as well as Vietnamese ships and fishermen. In mid-2012, the Philippines and China came dangerously close to an armed conflict over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Equipped with superior military hardware, and backed by intensive diplomatic pressure, China eventually managed to outmanoeuvre the Philippines by effectively gaining control of the disputed shoal. By mid-2013, China pushed the envelope even further, with Chinese para-military vessels allegedly aiming to overrun Philippine military fortifications in the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which is eerily close to the hydrocarbon-rich areas off the coast of the Philippine province of Palawan. The balance of forces on the ground has rapidly shifted in China's favour. Thanks to its relatively resilient economy, China has effortlessly accelerated its military spending, with a greater focus on its naval capabilities. The ultimate aim, many analysts claim, is to make China a pre-eminent naval power in Asia - eventually, challenging the US naval hegemony in the Pacific theatre. In response, Southeast Asian states have accelerated their efforts at establishing a legally-binding Code of Conduct (CoC) in the South China Sea, hoping to dissuade China from reinforcingits para-military fortifications and surveillance patrols across the contested areas. There have also been parallel efforts by the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore to increase American military presence in Southeast Asia to hedge against China's territorial assertiveness. Burned bridges But far from united on the issue, many members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been reluctant to openly criticise China over the South China Sea disputes. As the ASEAN's largest trading partner, and Asia's biggest economy, China has astutely leveraged its economic prowess vis-a-vis many Southeast Asian states. As a result, the ASEAN has failed to establish an effective and coherent policy on the South China Sea disputes. The negotiations over a CoC have largely stalled, forcing the Philippines and Vietnam to (a) seek greater strategic assistance from the US and Japan and (b) more directly confront China on the territorial disputes.

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The Philippines has tried to reinforce its claims in the South China Sea by going so far as renaming the contested maritime area as the West Philippine Sea.It has also sought to legally challenge China's territorial claims in the South China Sea by filing an arbitration case with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The Philippines hopes that other Asian countries, which are locked in similar disputes with China, will follow suit. Above all, Manila has been negotiating a new defense pact with Washington. The goal is to deter further Chinese para-military manoeuvres in the South China Sea by allowing the US to establish a semi-permanent military presence and lease advanced military hardware to the Philippines. China's diplomatic siege China has responded by effectively placing the Philippines under a diplomatic siege: In contrast to almost all East Asian countries, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is yet to conduct a formal, bilateral dialogue with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping. In addition to recent maritime regulations, which impose restrictions on the entry of foreign fishing vessels into Chinese-claimed maritime territories, there are growing reports that Beijing is also planning to impose an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea. The combined effect of these (existing and proposed) measures, according to critics, would be China's de facto control over a large portion of the South China Sea. Against such gloomy backdrop, Aquino, in a recent interview with the New York Times, went so far as risking permanent diplomatic estrangement with Beijing by likening China to Nazi Germany. Naturally, Aquino's statements infuriated China, which dismissed him as an "amateurish" politician that is incapable of negotiating a peaceful compromise. But with top American officials directly criticising China's territorial claims and promising to come to Manila's rescue in the event of conflict in the South China Sea, the Filipino leadership is relatively upbeat ahead of the US President Barack Obama's planned visit to Manila, which is expected to coincide with the signing of new bilateral strategic-military agreements. Nevertheless, given the growing concerns over the impact of America's dwindling military budget on its forward posturing in Asia, and Western prevarications on punishing Russia's actions in Ukraine in recent days, many Filipinos are increasingly worried about China's next move in the South China Sea. Diplomacy, meanwhile, seems to have taken the backseat. (Richard Javad Heydarian is a specialist on Asian geopolitical/economic affairs and author of "How Capitalism Failed the Arab World: The Economic Roots and Precarious Future of the Middle East Uprisings") Source: Al Jazeera, 11 March 2014

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Rescue Efforts Mark Baby Cooperation Steps

-- Ding Gang In the daunting search for the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet MH370, the contribution of naval forces by China and the US has aroused enormous attention from strategists. Though there is no evidence that the amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan and the missile frigate Mianyang dispatched by China's PLA Navy have worked in concert with the two destroyers, the USS Kidd and the USS Pinckney sent by the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, Chinese and US naval forces comprise the most important part of the search and rescue operation. For a long time, the word "cooperation" has rarely been applied to the naval forces of the two countries. China's increasingly powerful naval force over the South China Sea has frequently been interpreted as a challenge to US military might, which will likely trigger an inevitable conflict with its navy. And the US deployment of its naval fleet is top on the agenda of the Pentagon's policy of "rebalancing" in the Asia-Pacific region. The US Navy will deploy 60 percent of its assets to the Pacific and raise the number of ships from around 50 to 65 by 2020. What consequences will the growing strength of the Chinese navy and the growing military presence of the US navy lead to? This is not the only key in whether Beijing and Washington can smoothly develop a new type of great power relationship but is also critical to the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region in the future. Online photos displaying Chinese and US warships and vessels searching for signs of the vanishing plane over the South China Sea show the power of their naval forces, but more importantly, sketch the contours of their bilateral coordination and cooperation in this strategically important region. Whether the two naval forces will cooperate with each other and how they will conduct such joint efforts in the South China Sea will determine the peace and stability in the region. The Malaysia Airlines incident has once again brought up the idea that stakeholders in the South China Sea, in particular Beijing and Washington, should further improve joint search and rescue mechanisms and carry out more drills in this connection. Serving as a starting point of Sino-US naval cooperation in the Pacific, such maneuvers are in consistency with the interests of all regional states. When the Seventh Fleet dispatched the USS Pinckney, they declared the guided-missile destroyer was coming to "assist in the search efforts" for the missing flight. The US Navy has not clarified exactly who they are offering the assistance to, but they used the word "assist" in an obvious bid to prevent public opinion from any military association. Meanwhile, they also tried to relieve the concerns of regional stakeholders, including China, about their military presence in the South China Sea. Sino-US communication is vital for any large-scale cooperation in the South China Sea. If the naval forces of the two powers can engage in exchanges and gradually establish a joint search and rescue mechanism, there is a high likelihood that other countries will also participate.

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The tragic event has happened during the nascent stage of Sino-US naval communication, which makes the practical role of communication in regional security and stability all the more prominent. Last year, Chinese and the US military held the first joint drill on humanitarian aid and disaster relief in Hawaii. The troops mainly focused on searching for life and providing emergency assistance in airspace for a third country struck by a violent earthquake. And China will send troops to participate in the US-led Pacific Rim military exercise this year at the invitation of Washington. Such preliminary steps will do little to eliminate strategic mistrust between the two powers in the world. A joint search and rescue operation will neither likely change the overall architecture of the South China Sea. But the more importance Beijing and Washington attach to cooperation and the more investment they put in exchanges, the less the risks of friction and conflicts will be. (The author is a senior editor with People's Daily. He is now stationed in Brazil. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn.) Source: Global Times, 12 March 2014 Ukraine naval base: Russia's Guantanamo?

-- Michael J. Strauss After Cuba’s revolution in 1959, Havana squandered what was arguably its best opportunity to force the United States to abandon its lease of a naval base at Guantanamo: a legal doctrine that allows a nation to terminate a treaty if a fundamental change occurs in the circumstances that led to it. To at least some international lawyers, the revolution met the “fundamental change” standard. Cuba recognized the possibility, too, and considered this option as a way to declare the U.S. lease void. But Cuba was indecisive, and as late as 1970 it was weighing four different and partly conflicting legal arguments for ejecting the U.S. Navy from Cuban territory. In the end, it never launched a case. Looking over Cuba’s shoulder at the time was the Soviet Union. So it is no surprise that the abrupt change of power in Ukraine made Moscow want to do something to ensure that Kiev wouldn’t try to remove Russia from the naval base it maintains at Sevastopol under a similar lease. Russia had reason to be concerned. When the now-ousted government of Viktor Yanukovych took office in 2010, its first order of business was to have Ukrainian legislators approve a bill that was so contentious it led to fistfights in Parliament: renewing the Sevastopol lease. The bill passed. The government that preceded Yanukovych’s had repeatedly warned that the lease wouldn’t be renewed upon its expiration in 2017. That had put Russia in a bind because its work to develop an alternate naval base at Novorissiysk, on its own territory, was moving too slowly. Moreover, that site was at the Black Sea’s eastern extremity, making it strategically inferior for projecting Russian power in the region.

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The Sevastopol base is not only a leased zone but also a comfort zone for Russia in terms of food security. In years with poor crops, it has relied on Ukrainian grain to feed its population. The intimidation potential arising from the simple presence of its navy at Sevastopol likely made it more palatable for Russia to depend on a state that was legally and functionally independent from it. With Kiev’s power change, Moscow could easily expect the new government, either now or after elections, to act more decisively than Cuba’s did. Even just calling for the lease to be ended would be a no-brainer for Ukrainian politicians seeking to shore up domestic political support among much of the voting population. Russia thus finds itself in the same position as the United States did at Guantanamo half a century ago: the unwanted tenant of a hostile landlord. But it, too, has a legal principle on its side: the one that obliges a nation to honor the agreements it enters into. A U.S. State Department lawyer put it this way in February 1962: “A declaration by Cuba that it denounced, repudiated or abrogated the Guantanamo base arrangements would be legally ineffective. Those arrangements are to continue, according to their terms, until agreed otherwise between the United States and Cuba. An allegation of the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus (changed circumstances) as a ground for unilateral termination would not be well founded.” At what point this can be overridden by the “fundamental change” doctrine is an open question. The bar has been set high, and with Guantanamo the United States came down on the side that Russia has taken. This gives Moscow and Washington a piece of common ground in situations that are otherwise quite different. It’s a small one, but it’s the kind of thing one looks for as an entry point into negotiations that can then be expanded outward. If there is to be a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Crimea, it may be a place to start. (Michael J. Strauss, professor at the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies in Paris, is the author of “The Leasing of Guantanamo Bay” (Praeger, 2009). A University of Minnesota graduate, he is an adviser for the Guantanamo Public Memory Project display that is currently at the Minnesota History Center.) Source: Star Tribune, 12 March 2014

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" China Naval Expert Defends Military Budget " Egypt sentences 26 to death over Suez Canal plot chargesMARsec3 " Nigerian Navy Partners Italy to Fight Piracy, Crude Oil Theft " Pakistan’s Economic Future Linked to Gwadar: Mushahid " INS Sumedha to be Commissioned " US Navy Admits it needs Massive Investment to Fight for Arctic Seaways Control " Bangladesh to become Indo-Pacific economic corridor hub: Mozena " Coast Guards of India, Singapore Conducted Joint Drill " Japan, Denmark eye cooperation on maritime security, FTA " DF-26C missile puts Guam within China's reach: report " US supports India’s rise as capable actor in Asia: Pentagon " India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline remains the most viable option " 20,000km undersea cable to link Singapore to Europe " Paradip Port Gets Marine Commandos Security Cover " China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) First Chinese Firm Licensed to Explore

Arctic Oil and Gas Resources " Maldives, Lanka and India agree on maritime cooperation " U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations in 2013 targeted China, Iran " Strait of Malacca still not safe from pirates " India's Coastguard Joins Search for Missing Malaysia Plane " China to spend more on Navy, Air Force upgrade " Australia to buy U.S. Triton Drones to secure Indian Ocean Resources " Philippines drops food to troops after China 'blockade' " Indian Navy Joins the Search for Missing Malaysian Plane " World's Naval Fleets Search For Missing Jet " Navy may press P-8I aircraft into service to search for missing Malaysian Airlines plane " Plane Deliberately Diverted, Malaysia Says

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China Naval Expert Defends Military Budget

Double-digit growth in China's defense budget in recent years is moderate and in line with the country's economic conditions, a military expert said ahead of the two sessions during which military spending would be a focus. In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, Yin Zhuo, director of the Expert Consultation Committee of the PLA Navy, said China's military spending is still far from the level it needs to be as the country faces increasingly severe security challenges. The Chinese government is to unveil its defense budget for 2014 during the annual session of the National People's Congress. Last year, China raised its central government defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan (117.7 billion U.S. dollars). It spent 650.6 billion yuan on national defense in 2012, an increase of 11.5 percent than the previous year. Although the rise in the defense budget in the past three years has surpassed GDP growth, the spending's share in GDP, which came in at 1.4 percent, is still far below the world average of 3 percent, Yin said citing statistics. The expert added that China's peaceful development required the backing from both the economy and the military.

His comments came as China's growing military spending has come under various interpretations, with some countries exaggerating the expenditure and doubting China's peaceful intentions. Yin saw the hype as an attempt to sensationalize "China threats" to garner public support for the high military spending in those countries. In response to some reports claiming China's military spending would surpass that of the U.S. in the 2030s, Yin said China "has no intention to seek hegemony" and will stick on a peaceful development path. He reiterated that China will continue to keep its military policies open and transparent. A report released by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies showed the U.S. remained the world's biggest defense spender in 2013, with a budget of 600.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.

CYBER SECURITY

During the interview, Yin also responded to questions regarding U.S. accusations of China launching cyber attacks against the country. Last February, U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant released a report that alleged a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai was behind years of cyber attacks against U.S. companies. The report was followed by a wave of Western media criticism of hacking by China. "That is not true. China has no cyber army, and most of its cyber space remains unguarded," Yin pointed out, saying a substantial number of cyber attacks targeting Chinese military originated from the U.S. He also stressed the need for China to draw up a strategy on cyber space to guard national security. China announced on Thursday the creation of a special group, headed by President Xi Jinping, to lead and coordinate Internet security and informatization work among different sectors, as well as draft national strategies, development plans and major policies in this field.

Source: CriEnglish.com, 1 March 2014

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Egypt sentences 26 to death over Suez Canal plot charges

An Egyptian court sentenced 26 people to death on Wednesday for forming a "terror group" to target shipping passing through the Suez Canal, judicial sources said. The death sentences on the defendants, all tried in absentia, came a day after the military-installed authorities named a new prime minister, who vowed to fight "terrorism" and lure back foreign investors and holidaymakers. The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea and is a key trade route between Europe and Asia. It accounts for a huge chunk of Egyptian foreign exchange earnings and government income. It also separates mainland Egypt from the lawless Sinai Peninsula, where the longstanding hostility to authority of Bedouin tribes has created fertile ground for Islamist militant groups. The convictions all relate to offences allegedly committed between 2004 and 2009, before the Arab Spring uprising ended the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. They were for "founding and leading a terror group that aimed to attack people's freedom, damage national unity and (attack) the Suez Canal," the source said. They were also convicted of possessing firearms and explosives, manufacturing rockets and carrying out surveillance of security force buildings in preparation for attacks. The court referred the death sentences to the mufti, a top Muslim cleric who must approve all executions and has until March 19 to give his decision. The defendants have the right to appeal. A former state-sector construction boss and member of Mubarak's now disbanded National Democratic Party, Ibrahim Mahlab was named interim prime minister. He vowed to fight "terrorism" and bring back tourists as he began work on forming a new cabinet following the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi. "This will create the conditions for investment and the return of tourism," said Mahlab, who was Beblawi's housing minister. Since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, militants based in the Sinai have stepped up attacks on security personnel, killing scores and severely denting tourism and investment. The army has poured reinforcements into the arid, underdeveloped peninsula, but that has not stopped the jihadists from extending their attacks to other regions, including the heart of the capital. Last year, an al-Qaida-inspired group, the Furqan Brigades, attacked vessels passing through the Suez Canal and vowed further such attacks. Nearly 200 kilometres (125 miles) long, the Suez Canal is owned by Egypt but governed by an international treaty that guarantees free navigation. A significant proportion of the world's oil and gas passes through the strategic waterway, from which Egypt earns toll income that has become all the more important as a result of a sharp drop in tourist numbers. The canal earned 32.5 billion Egyptian pounds (nearly $4.6 billion/3.4 billion euros) for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish. Meanwhile, the government said the number of tourist arrivals had plunged by almost 31 percent in December from a year earlier. Source: The Times of India, 27 February 2014

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Nigerian Navy Partners Italy to Fight Piracy, Crude Oil Theft To nip the rising tide of maritime illegalities like piracy and crude oil theft, especially in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as boost the economy of both countries involved, the Nigerian Navy (NN) has partnered their Italian counterpart in training and maritime security. The Italian Navy had stormed Nigeria with one of its massive warship under the 30 Italian Naval Group, comprising of Cavour Aircraft Carrier, Etna Supply Ship, Bergamini Frigate and Borsini patrol ship, with a crew of 1,200 sailors and marines, including 100 women. Asides training, the visit, which was timed to fit into the centenary celebration, was also an avenue to boost investments and trade relations between both countries, as well as strengthen its diplomatic and bilateral ties. While speaking on board the ship which is currently berthing at the Nigeria Ports Authority, Lagos, Apapa, the Italian Ambassador, Stefano De Leo, said there is a lot of room for exchanging of information between both countries. The ambassador said the visit of the 30 Italian Naval Group, which coincides with Nigeria’s centenary celebration, was to afford the ship and its company the opportunity to celebrate the history of Nigeria’s freedom, its people, achievements and aspirations. He said, “This ship is a display of Italian capability and I believe we can work with the Nigerian government and harness the enormous potentials inherent in both countries.” The Naval Group Commander, Rear Admiral Paolo Treu, while addressing journalists said the presence of the ship was a respectful tribute to a Nigeria and a special sign of friendship from Italy. He said the mission of the naval group in a campaign tagged, ‘A country on the move’ has seen them visit 19 countries and 20 ports, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, South Africa, Congo, Angola, Kenya, Dubai and Mozambique, amongst others. He said the task of the campaign was to offer humanitarian assistance, maritime security operations, training, confidence building, cooperation, naval diplomacy and promotion of Italian entrepreneurial excellence. He said, “One of our objectives is to promote joint exercises and training in order to develop the capabilities of some of the navies of the visited countries to boost their effectiveness in surveillance activities and maritime security in their operational environment, with Patie results in global security. “Also, we would carry out humanitarian assistance through the operation smile non-profit organisation, the RAVA non-profit foundation and the Italian Red Cross and Red Crescent.” In response, the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Sam Alade, said the Nigerian Navy has stepped up its training programme and has developed strategies to reposition the service to tackle emerging challenges. He said this was in line with the vision and mission of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, adding that the service is ready to wage an unrelenting war against oil theft, illegal bunkering and piracy in the maritime domain. In his speech, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said Lagos remains the location of first choice for local and foreign direct investors in Nigeria and the ECOWAS sub-region because it accounts for almost 75 per cent of industries and remains the hub of socio-economic and cultural activities. Fashola who was represented by the Special Adviser, Commerce and Industry, Seyi Oladejo, said the visit would enable both countries cement their bilateral relations and open opportunities for other economic investments that would enhance job creation and wealth generation. Source: This Day Live, 2 March 2014

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Pakistan’s Economic Future Linked to Gwadar: Mushahid Chairman of Senate’s National Defence Committee Mushahid Hussain Sayed said on Sunday Pakistan’s economic future was linked to the development of Balochistan coast, particularly the port of Gwadar. He urged the government to strengthen and upgrade Pakistan Navy, given its pivotal role in maritime security, development and national integration all along the 700- kilometre coastline. He was talking to the media outside the Parliament House here to share details of the first-ever visit of the Defence Committee to Gwadar and Ormara, coastal cities of Balochistan. Lauding the role of Pakistan Navy, Senator Mushahid Hussain said it was promoting national cohesion through its people-friendly policies.In this regard, he mentioned opening of hospitals and educational institutions by Navy for the people of Balochistan. He said in the 21st Century, defence through maritime security and development through trade and economy was necessary through effective use of sea-lanes as sea power was playing the most important role in the present times. Hence, the budget of the Pakistan Navy needed to be substantially enhanced to meet the new maritime challenges. He said all members of the Senate National Defence Committee were highly impressed with the role of people living in coastal areas like Gwadar and Ormara, who were talented, hard-working and keen on education.Despite lacking basic facilities and infrastructure, the people there had the zeal to excel. He urged the government to invest in the area, while welcoming the effort to revive the Gwadar Port after the commercial agreement with a Chinese company to run this deep-sea strategic port. He said if investment was made in the rich fisheries sector, its exports could go up to $ 2 billion from $ 200 million annually. Source: Associated Press of Pakistan, 2 March 2014

INS Sumedha to be commissioned INS 'Sumedha', an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) indigenously designed and built by Goa Shipyard Ltd. (GSL), Goa-based defence shipyard for the Indian Navy, will be formally commissioned by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer, Commander-In-Chief, East on Friday at GSL in South Goa. The ship on commissioning will join Eastern Naval Command at Vizag, the sword arm of Indian Navy. This warship is the culmination of many years of in-house design development and ship build techniques. The commissioning of this ship marks a significant milestone in GSL's and country's march towards indigenization and self reliance, said an official spokesperson of GSL here on Monday. INS Sumedha is 200th ship indigenously built by GSL. GSL is the only yard which has delivered four classes of OPVs to both Navy and Coast Guard. INS 'Sumedha' is the third of the new 105 meter class of NOPV and the largest ship constructed by GSL for the Indian Navy. This state-of-the- art ship will help meet the increasing requirement of the Indian Navy for undertaking ocean surveillance and surface warfare operations in order to prevent infiltration and transgression of maritime sovereignty, said the spokesperson. Source: The Hindu, 4 March 2014

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US Navy Admits it needs Massive Investment to Fight for Arctic Seaways Control

In anticipation of international military drills in the Arctic this year, the US Navy has developed a detailed plan to establish a massive presence in the region. The road map says urgent investments are required to avoid higher future costs. The road map acknowledges that by 2020 the Bering Strait will have ice-free conditions for about 160 days a year, whereas by 2025 the now-hypothetic Transpolar transit sea route through the central part of the Arctic Ocean might become open for up to 45 days annually. The document specifies a large number of detailed tasks and deadlines the US must meet to compete on equal footing with other Arctic nations, already lining up for tough competition for natural resources under the Arctic seabed. For example, total deposits of hydrocarbons in the Arctic have been valued at over $1 trillion. The plan includes deep research into the Arctic’s environment, including into ice conditions, sea levels and weather forecasting. “The Arctic is all about operating forward and being ready. We don't think we're going to have to do war-fighting up there, but we have to be ready,” the US Navy's top oceanographer and navigator Rear Admiral Jonathan White told Reuters. Evaluation of the already existing infrastructure, such as ports, airfields and service structures, as well as estimates of hardware needed, such as communication satellites and icebreakers, has also been included. “We don't want to have a demand for the Navy to operate up there, and have to say, ‘Sorry, we can't go,’” said White, who also heads the US Navy's climate change task force. But the document does not specify how much money implementing the plan will require. The US needs Arctic-class ice-breakers, port infrastructure, satellite communication systems specialized for the polar region and much more. For example the US Coast Guard needs a modern powerful icebreaker, construction of which is estimated $1 billion. This is far less than the cost of the newest supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, but the money has not been allocated so far. “We're trying to use this road map to really be able to answer that question,” White said, warning that it was better to invest as soon as possible to avoid “bigger bills in the future.” White said that the Office of Naval Research and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are already funding numerous Arctic-focused projects, predicting more public-private projects would come in the next few years, despite the growing pressure on the US military budget. “As far as I'm concerned, the Navy and Coast Guard's area of responsibility is growing,” White said. “We're growing a new ocean, so our budget should be growing in line with that.” If the US plans to operate in ice-free, but still extremely harsh conditions in the Arctic by 2030, it should hurry up and face technological and financial challenges, White said. “If we do start to see a rush, and people try to get up there too fast, we run the risk of catastrophes,” he said, calling the private sector to invest and move into the region. “Search and rescue in the cold ice-covered water of the Arctic is not somewhere we want to go.” Natural resources Experts say that new sea routes and natural resources under the Arctic seabed will be controlled by those who get ready to exploit them in advance, and that is where the US is already lagging behind. Norway and Russia, with which the US Navy will hold joint drills this summer, can consider themselves well prepared for the Arctic race already under way.

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The US currently has fewer operational ocean-class icebreakers than practically any other Arctic nation. Countries such as Canada, Denmark and Norway all possess several ice-breaking vessels, but all of them are limited to less than 10 such ships. Today it is mostly the US nuclear submarines and UAVs that are marking the US’s presence in the Arctic. Russia has the longest sea border in Arctic, which determine possession of a huge ice-breaking fleet. Russia possesses well over 40 ice-breaking vessels, of them 11 nuclear powered operated, and is actively constructing new ones to develop the Arctic region and in particular the Northern Sea Route, the shortest way from Asia to Europe. To ensure full control over the promising trade route through Arctic waters, the Russia military resumed a permanent Arctic presence last summer. Source: rt.com, 28 February 2014

Bangladesh to become Indo-Pacific economic corridor hub: Mozena US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena said that Bangladesh would be a ‘mighty contributor’ to the huge flows of commerce along this 21st century trade route by turning the hub of the Indo-Pacific economic corridor utilising its ‘geographical gift’. “…I’ll see a Bangladesh that uses its geographical gift to become the hub of the Indo-Pacific economic corridor, which will link Central and South Asia to China, Singapore and the world,” he said while addressing a function in the city. The US diplomat said Bangladesh will become a food self-sufficient country, as the nation’s agricultural revolution continues. “America is Bangladesh’s partner in this revolution that will enable the world’s most densely populated country to feed itself.” Mozena, however, said there are constraints and challenges that need to be addressed to encourage investment in Bangladesh. He laid emphasis on the need for the highest quality education and skills training; expanded ports, roads, railroads; more power, more energy supplies; less corruption and red tape that discourage investment; secure working conditions and labour rights for workers; improved rule of law; and greater political stability for better Bangladesh.“These challenges and constraints are real, but each one is surmountable. Bangladesh is so lucky to have only challenges that each can be resolved … many countries are not so fortunate,” Mozena said. He said there are so many ways to give back to Bangladesh by the Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs). “There’re so many ways - investing your money, sharing your expertise, introducing new technology and mentoring young entrepreneurs, among other ideas.” Sharing a new mechanism called - LiftBangla - that was launched last year, Mozena said this is an online giving portal that enables Bangladesh’s many friends to give to amazing organisations in Bangladesh securely and with confidence that their money will not be eaten, but rather invested in one of the vetted organisations that they select for driving Bangladesh’s development. Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman addressed the function as the chief guest.Former Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Mohammad Farashuddin, former deputy governor Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena and European Union (EU) ambassador to Bangladesh William Hanna were present at the function. Source: The Daily Star, 4 March 2014

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Coast Guards of India, Singapore Conducted Joint Drill Indian Coast Guard ship "Sagar" will take part in a joint exercise with Singapore's Police Coast Guard to develop common standard operating procedures. "'Sagar' will be participating in bilateral exercise with Police Coast Guard of Singapore to further develop common standard operating procedures," Indian High Commissioner Vijay Thakur Singh said. The ship provides an opportunity to reiterate India's commitment to bilateral relations with Singapore, she said. Singh noted the importance of Sagar's visit coinciding with the annual Governing Council meeting of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery (ReCAAP). The ship's presence underlines India's commitment to the ReCAAP, said Singh, assuring of India's continuing support and cooperation with the regional grouping. Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal, Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, is representing India at the ReCAAP. Source: Business Standard, 4 March 2014

Japan, Denmark eye cooperation on maritime security, FTA Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Danish counterpart Helle Thorning-Schmidt agreed Tuesday to strengthen bilateral cooperation on maritime security and pledged to seek the early conclusion of a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union. Abe explained Japan’s policy to make contributions to global peace and security during the talks in the prime minister’s office with Thorning-Schmit, who agreed on the importance of promoting the rule of law and free trade. With Japan facing a tough decision on its future energy mix and the third anniversary next week of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex, the two leaders agreed to seek cooperation on renewable energy and encourage private-sector partnerships, Japanese officials said. “We’d like to work together in such fields as peace-building, (development in) the Arctic region, and empowerment of women, and further bilateral relations,” Abe told a news conference after the talks.One of Abe’s top priorities is to put the deflation-mired economy on a path of sustainable recovery, and he has being calling for more women to join the workforce while implementing his “Abenomics” policy package. Japan and the European Union launched negotiations last year on a free trade accord. “Trade and cooperation have thrived for many years, but it still holds tremendous potential. I believe that one of the best ways to fulfill this potential is to finalize the free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union,” Thorning-Schmidt said earlier in the day at a meeting to commemorate the relaunch of the Japan-Denmark Parliamentary Friendship League. The league includes around 40 Diet members, including former Prime Minister Naoto Kan and New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi. Liberal Democratic Party Lower House member Taro Kono chairs the group.“This league is a testimony of the excellent relations between our two nations,” Thorning-Schmidt said, expressing her expectations that the group will support the deepening of economic, political and people-to-people ties. Source: The Japan Times, 4 March 2014

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DF-26C missile puts Guam within China's reach: report US officials told the Washington Free Beacon on Mar. 4 that China's new intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-26C, which has the capability to carry a nuclear warhead, will become a major threat to US forces in Guam. The Washington Free Beacon reported that the range of this missile is estimated to be 2,200 miles (3,500 km), which is enough for the People's Liberation Army to conduct attacks on military facilities in Guam, the major US base in the Central Pacific, located 1,600 miles (2,600 km) southeast of Japan and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from Hawaii. This is the first official confirmation of China's new intermediate-range ballistic missile, the paper reported, in what is believed to be part of the PLA's military buildup in their efforts to control Asia-Pacific waters. With this new weapon, officials from the Pentagon also said that China can pose a threat to the United States within the First Island Chain, which extends from the Aleutians to the Philippines, and the Second Island Chain, comprising the Bonin Islands, Marianas and the Caroline Islands; from the Kuril Islands through to New Guinea. This is a weapon designed to carry out anti-access and area denial strategies. To confront this potential Chinese threat, the Pentagon deployed one of its newest anti-missile systems, the Theater High Altitude Area Defense to Guam last April. "China is developing and will soon deploy new longer-range theater missiles as part of its anti-access, area denial strategies, to be part of a combined force of new long-range bombers armed with supersonic anti-ship missiles, plus space weapons and larger numbers of submarines," said Richard Fisher, a US expert on Chinese military development in an email to the Washington Free Beacon. He added that China is determined to push the US out of the First Island Chain with these forces. Japan also plans to establish amphibious forces in Kyushu or the Ryukyu Islands to prepare for a potential clash with the Chinese over the disputed Diaoyutai (Senkaku or Diaoyu) islands in the East China Sea according to the Tokyo-based Kyodo News. A training exercise was undertaken on Mar. 2 at a Japan Ground Self Defense Force base located in Ainoura under the supervision of of Itsunori Onodera, the Japanese defense minister. Source: Want China Times, 4 March 2014

US supports India’s rise as capable actor in Asia: Pentagon The United States supports India's rise as an increasingly capable actor in the region, and we are deepening our strategic partnership, including through the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative," the Pentagon said in its 2014 Quadrennial Defence Review. As the US ends its combat operations in Afghanistan, it is prepared to transition to a limited mission focused on counter-terrorism and training, advising, and assisting Afghan security forces, it said. "We will continue efforts to help stabilise Central and Southwest Asia and deepen our engagement in the Indian Ocean region to bolster our rebalance to Asia," the Defence Department said.

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The Pentagon acknowledged that maintaining US global posture and presence to support stability, security, and prosperity will become more challenging – but perhaps even more essential – in an environment of constrained resources. "Supporting the broader US rebalance to the region, the United States will maintain a robust footprint in Northeast Asia while enhancing our presence in Oceania, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean.

By 2020, 60 percent of US Navy assets will be stationed in the Pacific, including enhancements to our critical naval presence in Japan," the report said. As the United States completes its transition in Afghanistan and looks to the future, the international security environment remains uncertain and complicated, the Pentagon noted. "The United States will likely face a broad array of threats and opportunities and must prepare to address both effectively in the coming years," it said. The Asia-Pacific region, the report said, is increasingly central to global commerce, politics, and security. It also expressed anxiety over rapid pace and comprehensive scope of China's military modernisation. "Defence spending in this region continues to rise. As nations in the region continue to develop their military and security capabilities, there is greater risk that tensions over long-standing sovereignty disputes or claims to natural resources will spur disruptive competition or erupt into conflict, reversing the trends of rising regional peace, stability, and prosperity," the Pentagon warned. "In particular, the rapid pace and comprehensive scope of China’s military modernisation continues, combined with a relative lack of transparency and openness from China's leaders regarding both military capabilities and intentions," the Pentagon said. Iran remains a destabilising actor in the region that threatens security by defying international law and pursuing capabilities that would allow it to develop nuclear weapons, it said. Source: Firstpost.com, 5 March 2014

India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline remains the most viable option Despite the Foreign Office emphasising that India was looking for an undersea route to source gas from Iran, bypassing Pakistan in the process, reliable sources here maintained that the India-Pakistan-Iran (IPI) “Peace Pipeline” still remained on the drawing board and was the most viable option. Following talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid last week, official sources suggested that one important subject, which was also discussed with the Oman Foreign Minister the same day, was the revival of an undersea pipeline project. Official sources suggested that this pipeline, which would bypass Pakistan, was now technically feasible after the success of the North Sea undersea pipeline.

If Iran was looking at the cheapest way to get gas to customers, it would prefer European customers. But what Iran had in mind was providing spillover benefits of the surface pipeline to the region it passes through, especially the Makran Plateau common to both Pakistan and Iran and where poverty has fuelled subversive tendencies. And, the sources suggested that the future of the IPI pipeline was entwined with the Chah-bahar port as Iran was keen to ensure that this town and the surrounding region of Sistan-Baluchistan Province also gained from the availability of gas.

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The benefits will cross the border as development of industry due to availability of energy would give more employment opportunities to Pakistani youth. Interestingly, this is India’s approach too. Its officials began two days of talks with their Pakistani counterparts here on Wednesday on exporting electricity. Just 72 km from the Pakistani port of Gwadar being built with Chinese help, the first phase of developing the Chah-bahar port is nearly over. The Union Cabinet has already earmarked $100 millions for the development of the port in anticipation of Iran agreeing to involve India in developing the port as well as utilising a north-bound route that enters into Afghanistan and Central Asia. India and Iran have held several rounds of talks on sharing operations and developing the port. After the latest conversation between the Iranian and Indian Foreign Ministers, official sources said Tehran will get back before Nauroz holidays (Persian New Year) with answers to queries raised. But the next government will have to work on several other fronts before Iran agrees to give India access to a port that faces the open sea unlike the bigger Iranian port of Bandar Abbas which is in the Persian Gulf. Iranian Foreign Minister as well as other interlocutors have indicated that Iran is in no hurry to get the money back, held up due to sanctions by the US and the European Union. It would want this money, even if it accumulates further, to be utilised as export credit for some big ticket joint venture projects, possibly even a refinery at Chah-bahar which is just 900 km away from Gujrat's Mundhra Port. The biggest problem is despite deep energy and civilisational links, India and Iran are unfamiliar with each other’s processes and systems of doing business in other areas. “India does business with the West and so does Iran. But they are unfamiliar with the business situation in the other country. They don’t know how to work together,” acknowledged an official. Source: The Hindu, 6 March 2014 20,000km undersea cable to link Singapore to Europe The Sea-Me-We 5 consortium, a group of 15 telecommunications companies, has awarded Alcatel-Lucent and NEC a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to lay an undersea cable that will bring a high-speed network link between Europe and Singapore and points in between. The South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (Sea-Me-We) consortium is funding the 20,000-kilometer (12,400 miles) cable, the fifth such project for the consortium. This one will bring a 100-gigabit-per-second link, Alcatel-Lucent said Friday. Alcatel-Lucent will lay the western stretch from Europe to Sri Lanka, with spurs leading to Sicily, Pakistan, India, and various Middle Eastern countries. NEC will handle an eastern segment from there to Singapore, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia, the company said.The consortium consists of the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, China Mobile, China Telecom Global, China United Network Communications Group Company, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications, Orange, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, Saudi Telecom Company, SingTel, Sri Lanka Telecom, TOT, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, and Yemen International Telecommunications (TeleYemen).

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Undersea cables are expensive, but they open up international network bottlenecks and make it easier to route around problems such as an earlier cable being severed.Alcatel-Lucent lays cable using a "sea plow" towed behind a ship that can lay cable at depths up to 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet). They can lay cable at a rate of 5 to 35 kilometers per day (3 to 22 miles). Source: cnet.com, 7 March 2014 Paradip Port Gets Marine Commandos Security Cover Five years after ambitious plans were made to thwart sea-borne terror attacks in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, the Paradip port in Odisha has been brought under a marine commando security net. The port is one of the most important and sensitive sea cargo facilities in eastern part of India and is located near the confluence of river Mahanadi in the Bay of Bengal. A commando trained squad of thirty Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have begun patrolling in the off-shore sea waters that touch the facility. Officials said the port authorities had recently got the CISF a fast patrol vessel which is now being used by the commandos of the paramilitary to go on sea-borne on surveillance missions. The personnel, however, only patrol the coast areas while securing the farther waters is the task of the Coast Guard followed by Indian Navy.This is the first marine commando squad of CISF which has gone sea-borne even as it guards about a dozen of other ports like the JNPT in Mumbai and Mundra in Gujarat. Enhancement of the coastal security has been an important subject since the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks were launched from the sea after terrorists sneaked in the western metropolis through this route. A select squad of CISF personnel for this job has been trained in commando tactics, amphibious operations and sea survival skills by the Navy at its training school in Kochi. The commandos, officials said, patrol the sea at different times of the day and also based on intelligence inputs generated for maritime areas.The squad has been equipped with INSAS rifles and reconnaissance gadgets like thermal radars and binoculars and rescue devices. The Paradip port is one of the major ports of India serving the eastern and central parts of the country and its hinterland extends to the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.The port mainly deals with bulk cargo apart from other clean cargoes and there has been a phenomenal growth in the traffic handled by this port in the last decade. Source: The New Indian Express, 8 March 2014

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China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) First Chinese Firm Licensed to Explore Arctic Oil and Gas Resources State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., China’s largest offshore oil and gas developer, has been licensed to explore for oil resources in the Arctic, making it the first Chinese company to be granted such approval. Orkustofnun, Iceland’s national energy authority, granted the new offshore license to Cnooc as an operator with a 60 percent share, while Icelandic partners Eykon Energy and Petoro Iceland AS hold 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively, the China Daily reported on Thursday. Cnooc applied for the license to explore oil and gas resources in Arctic waters in June and was granted operating rights on Jan. 22. The Chinese company has been accelerating its steps in foreign offshore oil and gas businesses and last year purchased the Canadian oil and gas company Nexen Inc. "The permission that Cnooc got from the Iceland government proves the Chinese energy companies' upstream exploration competence," Guo Haitao, associate dean of the School of Business Administration with the China University of Petroleum, said, according to the China Daily. The project is still in the beginning stages and doesn't have the capacity to add to China’s oil and gas supply in the short term, Guo added. In the long term, the project will raise the level of China’s energy exploration technology as well as ensure supply through diversified resources.Cnooc already boasts of considerable experience in deep water exploration. In 2013, it produced 412 million barrels of oil, of which 69 million came from Nexen. The Chinese company aims to produce 422 million to 435 million barrels, which would be between 2.43 percent and 5.58 percent of year-on-year increase. Yet, as the first Chinese company to explore in the Arctic, Cnooc has much to learn. "Cnooc will be the major operator of the project, and risks are high," Guo said. The Arctic region has rich oil and gas resources with a proven reserve the equivalent of 400 billion barrels of oil, according to the China Daily. Exploring in the Arctic has high operation costs, long payback periods, and requires different extraction equipment than ones used in deep water, as the area has extremely low temperatures and Arctic ice. Source: International Business Times, 07 March 2014 Maldives, Lanka and India agree on maritime cooperation Military leaders of the Maldives, India and Sri Lanka have come into agreement to conduct more training programmes to impede and take executive steps on vessels that violate marine laws. This agreement was made at the third National Security Advisor (NSA) level Trilateral Meeting on Maritime Security Cooperation between Maldives, Sri Lanka and India on sixth and seventh of March 2014 in New Delhi, India. Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim from Maldives, National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - Shivshankar Menon from India and the current Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa from Sri Lanka participated in the meeting. Delegations consisting Seychelles and Mauritius top officials participated as observers. According to the statement issued by MNDF on Saturday, the topics discussed at this meeting are: ways to efficiently monitor the maritime areas with the three countries together; steps that can be taken against pirates; dangerous marine incidents/accidents; providing assistance amongst the three countries on incidents that can pollute the marine environment; stop criminal activity that is committed on the seas.

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Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) said that discussions were also held on improving hydrographical studies and contributions in India and to involve maritime experts from the Sri Lanka and Maldives in think-tank sessions of India. To conduct these programmes, MNDF says that agreements have been made to hold discussions at working group and Deputy Security Advisor Levels. In addition, the tree countries had also agreed to conduct the next meeting of this series in the Maldives. Defence Minister Nazim had made a call of respect on the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his way to the discussions held in Delhi. He also met separately with Indian Defence Minister Arackaparambil Kurien "A. K." Antony and Menon. MNDF said that the Indian Defence Minister had promised to assist in developing the Maldivian military forces. Nazim had expressed gratitude for the continued assistance provided by Indian military to the Maldivian defence forces and had stated how important it was for Maldivians too, to keep the Indian regional oceans safe. Source: haveeru.com, 09 March 2014

U.S. Freedom of Navigation Operations in 2013 targeted China, Iran The U.S. military carried out freedom of navigation operations challenging the maritime claims of China, Iran and 10 other nations last year, asserting its right to use the seas in defiance of their restrictions, a Pentagon report said Thursday. The Defense Department's annual Freedom of Navigation Report to Congress for the 2013 fiscal year showed the U.S. military targeted not only countries such as Iran, with whom it has no formal relations, but treaty allies like the Philippines, too. The U.S. military conducted multiple operations targeting China over what Washington believes are "excessive" claims about its maritime boundaries and its effort to force foreign warships to obtain permission before peacefully transiting its territorial seas. U.S. operations challenged Iran for trying to restrict the use of the Strait of Hormuz to ships from countries that have signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, an accord the United States has not formally adopted but treats as generally accepted customary law. The report covers activity in the 2013 fiscal year that ended September 30, before the latest tensions over an incident between U.S. and Chinese warships in the South China Sea and Beijing's declaration of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, which Washington rejected. The United States carries out freedom of navigation operations by sending Navy ships into disputed areas in an effort to show that the international community has not accepted claims made by one or more countries. The operations, which began in 1979, are coordinated by the State and Defense departments and are meant to be consistent with the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention, even though Washington has not formally adopted the agreement. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the country whose laws are being challenged often are not even aware a U.S. ship has been there, which is one reason for issuing an annual report after the fact to note the complaint. "There are times that coastal states detect us executing the operation and we respond (with a) bridge-to-bridge query and they tend to be professional," the official said.

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Incidents like the 1988 bumping of two U.S. ships by Soviet vessels during a freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea are uncommon, he said. That incident led the two countries to reach a bilateral understanding on the rights warships have in transiting the territorial seas of other states. In addition to China, Iran and the Philippines, U.S. operations in 2013 challenged claims by Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Taiwan and Vietnam. All countries but Cambodia were targeted more than once. Since 1991, the United States has conducted more than 300 freedom of navigation operations challenging maritime claims by 53 different countries worldwide, from Albania, Ecuador and Denmark to Pakistan and Yemen. Iran and the Philippines have been challenged most frequently. Iran has appeared on 19 of the 21 lists submitted to Congress since 1991, while the Philippines has appeared on 18. Cambodia, the Maldives, India and Oman also frequently appear. China has been on the list 11 times, the same as Indonesia and one less than Burma. The most frequent U.S. complaint is with countries that measure the start of their territorial waters by drawing a straight line between two points on the coast or along offshore islands, thereby enclosing a vast expanse of sea.Washington disagrees with the Philippines' designation of the seas bounded by the island chain as internal waters and therefore off limits to foreign ships or overflight by foreign aircraft. Source: Reuters, 06 March 2014 Strait of Malacca still not safe from pirates The waters in the Singapore and Malacca straits are still not entirely safe from pirates, as evidenced by three ships that were robbed this month alone as they passed through the area, according to Indonesian Maritime Safety Information Center (PIKMI) officials. PIKMI receives incident alerts from the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Center in Singapore.

PIKMI member Mohammad Yasin revealed that the first act of piracy this month occurred on March 6, while the second happened only half an hour after the first incident. “Then, in the morning on March 10, another robbery took place. The vessels that fell victim were the MT Sea Voyager, MT Orpheas and MT Cape Veni, respectively,” he said on Monday as quoted bytribunnews.com. The crew of the Marshall Islands vessel MT Sea Voyager were held at knife-point by four armed pirates as it was en route to Karimun Kecil Island at 5:15 p.m.

The crew had sounded the alarm as the pirates approached and the uninvited guests fled the ship empty-handed. Meanwhile, MT Orpheas was robbed approximately half an hour later at 5:40 p.m. The Liberian tanker was also on course for Karimun Kecil Island when five armed pirates boarded and took off with several ship parts.

MT Cape Veni, a bulk carrier from Cyprus, was positioned southwest of Nipa Island when it was approached by a band of pirates in a motorboat at 1:50 p.m. The crew also sounded the alarm, prompting the pirates to immediately flee the vessel. PIKMI is a unit that operates under the National Maritime Institute (Namarin) and is in charge of reporting sea crimes. It is the regional partner to ISC-ReCAAP in Indonesia

Source: Jakarta Post, 11 March 2014

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India's Coastguard Joins Search for Missing Malaysia Plane India's coastguard joined the aerial search Wednesday for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people off the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, a senior officer told AFP. A Dornier aircraft belonging to the coastguard set off mid-afternoon local time to scour the eastern side of the Andaman islands on orders from the Indian government, the inspector general of the coastguard service said. "We were directed to take part in the search operations up to the eastern fringes of the exclusive economic zone of the Andaman islands," V.S.R. Murthy told AFP. "We are looking into that area for any clues to the missing airliner," he added. The Andaman and Nicobar islands are Indian territory, although they are at least 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the mainland and are closer to the coast of Myanmar. The hunt for MH370, involving the navies and air forces of multiple nations, had focused on an area off Vietnam's South China Sea coast where it last made contact Saturday on a journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. But Malaysian authorities said Wednesday they were now expanding the search to the Andaman Sea north of Indonesia, hundreds of kilometres away. India's airforce was also on standby to search for the missing plane, which was carrying five Indian nationals among its passengers, as the president said the country was ready to provide any help needed. Indian Air Force spokesman Gerard Galway said planes were ready to deploy to scour the waters west of Malaysia. "We have not received any task (as of now) but in case there is a requirement, our aircraft will be deployed to assist in the search operations," Galway told AFP. President Pranab Mukherjee said the country was ready to offer any assistance required and that officials were in constant contact with Malaysia over the plane's disappearance. "We appreciate the efforts of the government of Malaysia to locate the missing aircraft and are ready to provide any help needed," Mukherjee's office said in a statement. A foreign ministry spokesman said Malaysia had accepted India's offer of assistance and details on what form that might take were still being worked out between the two sides. "We are (still) coordinating details with the Malaysian side," spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. Mukherjee's office said the president had spoken with Malaysia's king, expressing his "deep concern and sympathy" over the missing jet. Source: Global Post, 12 March 2014 China to spend more on Navy, Air Force upgrade In a major strategic shift, China has for the first time decided to spend more from its USD 132 billion defence budget to upgrade Navy and Air Force amid deepening conflict with Japan, South China Sea dispute and US military push into Asia-Pacific. The shift in allocation of funds, changing the old pattern of their equal distribution among the three forces in the past was part of a blueprint drawn by China's new leadership headed by President Xi Jinping at a key meeting recently where big structural reforms for the country's military were finalised, official media here reported.

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Significantly, Xi - in his meeting with defence delegates attending the annual session of the Parliament - yesterday asked the 2.3 million-strong world's largest standing military to hasten modernisation, focussing on combat capability. He also sent out a stern message to the countries with whom China has territorial disputes. "We expect peace, but we shall never give up efforts to maintain our legitimate rights, nor shall we compromise our core interests, no matter when or in what circumstances," he said. He also hinted at permitting private sector in military hardware production. Market can play bigger role in military modernisation to jointly create a highly effective development pattern that features army-civilian integration, he said. His remarks followed a CCTV report stating that China opted to spend more money on naval upgrade in view of raising maritime disputes and the growing interests of Chinese military interests overseas, shifting the balance towards improving the capability of the navy and air force. Under this, more money will be allocated to navy and its high-tech capability, the report said. China last week allocated a whopping USD 132 billion for defence, a hike of 12.2 per cent in one of the highest in its two decade-long double-digit raise in military spending. In the last few years, China commissioned its first aircraft carrier, with plans to build three more besides acquiring long-range capability to launch missile attack on rival aircraft carriers. Strategic analysts say this would largely limit the mobility of the US aircraft carriers, most of which were expected to be shifted to Asia-Pacific in the next few years under the Obama Administration's pivot to Asia. The rapid development of Chinese Navy raised concerns in India as it becomes a major challenge to Indian Navy's own plan to emerge as strong blue-water navy with wide range of capabilities. The huge increase in China's defence spending came in the first budget after Xi took over power last year emerging as the most powerful leader, heading the ruling Communist Party, the military and the presidency, unlike his predecessor, Hu Jintao who started his ten-year tenure only with the party and the presidency. Source: Zee News, 12 March 2014 Australia to buy U.S. Triton Drones to secure Indian Ocean Resources Australia has committed to purchasing the U.S. Navy's MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, its prime minister said on Thursday, continuing a trend amongst Asia-Pacific nations to protect commercial maritime interests amid rising regional tensions. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that Australia will acquire an undisclosed number of the surveillance aircraft once they become available. The U.S. Navy is still testing the Triton and has plans to buy 68, with the first due in service in 2017. The aircraft will be used "to secure our ocean resources, including energy resources off northern Australia, and help to protect our borders", Abbott said in the statement. Defence analysts say maritime surveillance is the most pressing security need in East and Southeast Asia. Rival maritime claims that have pitted China, which has one of the world's fastest growing militaries, against Japan and other Asian nations have made the South and East China Seas dangerous flashpoints.

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More than 80 percent of China's oil imports transit through the Indian Ocean on Australia's west coast. Japan, India and South Korea are also dependent on Indian Ocean routes. The Triton, under development by Northrop Grumman , is the size of a small airliner with a 40-metre wingspan. It can cruise at 20,000 metres for up to 30 hours, sweeping a distance greater than Sydney to London with 360-degree radar and sensors including infra-red and optical cameras. Australia wants drone aircraft to complement its purchase last month of eight of Boeing Co's P-8A Poseidon long-range spy planes for A$4 billion ($3.6 billion). Abbott said that the total number of Triton aircraft to be acquired, as well as their introduction into service date, will be decided in 2016. The planes will be based at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia state, Abbott said, and will bring in A$100 ($89.72) million in investments to the state, which has struggled with the loss of its manufacturing sector. Source: Reuters, 12 March 2014

Philippines Drops Food to Troops after China 'Blockade'

The Philippine military said Thursday it had evaded a Chinese sea blockade by using an airplane to drop food to soldiers on a tiny and remote South China Sea shoal claimed by both countries.The incident was the latest to escalate tensions between the Asian nations over their conflicting claims to parts of the South China Sea, a major sea-lane and rich fishing ground that is believed to hold vast mineral resources.“We confirmed there was an airdrop of food to our troops,” Defence Department spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said. He said the airdrop was “via airplane,” but did not say when it occurred nor give further details.The incident took place at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly island group, which is around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the western Philippine island of Palawan and which Manila insists is part of its continental shelf. The shoal is more than 1,000 kilometres from Hainan island, the closest Chinese landmass, but China claims nearly all of the South China Sea based on what it says are historical records.A tiny unit of Filipino marines live on the BRP Sierra Madre, a decrepit, beached former World-War-II US navy transport ship that was transferred to the Philippine navy and run aground on the shoal in the 1990s. Troops on the 1,000-metre (3,280-foot) long ship have ever since guarded the shoal.China has long demanded the Philippines pull out the vessel and the marines.But the Philippines said this week that Chinese coastguard ships blocked two Philippine-flagged civilian vessels on March 9 as they were carrying supplies and personnel to the shoal.The Philippines said this was the first time there had been such Chinese resistance.The Philippines issued a diplomatic protest over the incident, but China in response reiterated its position that the shoal was Chinese territory. The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam all claim parts or all of the South China Sea. The Philippine government has accused China of becoming increasingly aggressive in asserting its claims to the sea. Last year it initiated United Nations arbitration to settle the dispute, but China refused to participate.

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The Philippines also last month accused Chinese ships of using water cannon to drive away Filipino fishermen who were approaching Scarborough Shoal, another South China Sea outcrop. Source: New Straits Time, 13 March 2014 Indian Navy Joins the Search for Missing Malaysian Plane

The Indian Navy has joined Malaysia in its search for the missing plane with 239 people on board. According to official sources, INS Saryu and INS Kumbhir are the Indian Navy Vessels that have been attached and ICG (Indian Coast Guard) Kanaklata Baruah is also helping in the search operations. Along with these, one P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft and dorniers from Indian Navy and Coast Guard are assisting in the search of the missing plane. Meanwhile, the Malaysian aviation chief has said that no plane debris has been found at the spot shown by China's satellite images. Vietnam too, has said that it has spotted no debris. Indian Navy joins the search for missing Malaysian plane. According to official sources, INS Saryu and INS Kumbhir are the Indian Navy Vessels that have been attached in the search operation. Earlier there were reports that a Chinese satellite is looking into the mysterious disappearance of the flight claims it has observed a suspected crash area at sea. Malaysian authorities have also dismissed media reports that the plane stayed in the air for four hours after it reached it's last confirmed location. Investigators still have no solid evidence on the whereabouts of the flight and have expanded the area of the search operations to include the Malacca Strait.

Source: IbnLive, 13 March 2014

World's Naval Fleets Search For Missing Jet

Nearly every navy with a presence in Southeast Asia is involved in the extensive search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared early Saturday. Some details on the key responders and their capabilities:

UNITED STATES:

The U.S. Navy is easily the biggest and best equipped Navy in the Pacific and was fast to participate. Two San Diego-based destroyers have been searching areas designated by the Malaysian government. The USS Kidd searched the southwest section of the Gulf of Thailand before heading to the Strait of Malacca as of Thursday, according to 7th Fleet spokesman Cdr. William Marks. The USS Pickney searched the northeast area, between Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before heading to Singapore for maintenance. The Kidd's two HM-60R Seahawk helicopters flew sorties from dawn to dusk in search of debris.

They can search a 400- to 600-square-nautical mile area during a typical 3½-hour sortie, depending on sea and weather conditions and the size of object it's trying to find. Its onboard sensors can detect small objects in the water, in addition to the crew using binoculars or the naked eye. The Seahawks also have forward-looking infrared cameras for night use. A Navy P-3C Orion aircraft has been searching over both the Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Thailand. The P-3C can search for extended periods and cover 1,000-1,500 square miles every hour. On-board sensors allow the crew to clearly detect small debris in the water.

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CHINA:

Four Chinese naval vessels are joining the effort. The Jinggangshan is the largest in the Chinese navy and has a large flight deck capable of launching several helicopters. An air force plane was dispatched to search for signals from the flight's black box. The People's Liberation Army Newspaper, run by the ruling party's military commission, said Beijing also sent four helicopters and four civilian search vessels. The Kunlunshan — another amphibious landing ship with two helicopters — arrived at the designated area in the Gulf of Thailand early Thursday morning. China plans to expand the scope of its search in the northwest toward the Gulf of Thailand and to cover 5,000 square nautical miles (17,000 square kilometers) in the Gulf of Thailand, the military newspaper said.

"That is equivalent to a medium-sized city, and we must be meticulous in our work because of the higher demands to conduct the search in such a vast area," Liu Zhonghu, captain of Jinggangshan, told the newspaper. On state-run China Central Television, PLA navy officers said the helicopters took off from the Jianggangshan and Kunlunshan to search, the ships were using underwater sonar and robots to detect the plane, and the crews have been surveying the sea.

The Philippines & Vietnam:

Despite its meager resources, the Philippine military immediately dispatched search and rescue vessels and aircraft into the South China Sea southwest of Manila within hours of the plane being reported missing Saturday. The Philippines' largest and newest naval vessel, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a former U.S. Coast Guard cutter, was deployed on Wednesday to replace two smaller patrol boats that returned to port for refueling and resupply, said 1st Lt. Cherry Tindog, spokeswoman for the military's Western Command. She said an air force Fokker 27 that searched on Saturday and Sunday was replaced by a navy Islander on Monday. A C-130 was deployed on Tuesday. The navy Islander and the Gregorio del Pilar were both searching on Thursday.

Tindog also said all fishermen and fishing boats in the area have been advised to help in the search. Meanwhile, in Hanoi, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnamese People's Army, told The Associated Press that Vietnam has dispatched for the first time a helicopter to scour jungles of U Minh in southern Vietnam after the massive sea search found no clues. "We have instructed related regional military commands to deploy searches on land from the beginning," he said. "Now we use helicopters for searches in areas few people could access." He said the searches by helicopter will be widened to other jungles in the south central region.

More on the way:

Neighbors Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei have already provided ships, and Singapore is planning to add more aircraft. Thailand has contributed helicopters, while Australia has offered two P-3C aircraft and India is reportedly mobilizing coast guard vessels. AP writers Didi Tang in Beijing, Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta and Oliver Teves and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

Source: Aviationsprons.com 13 March 2014

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Navy may press P-8I aircraft into service to search for missing Malaysian Airlines plane

The Indian Navy is likely to press its state-of-the-art P-8I aircraft into service to search for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft that has been missing for nearly five days with 239 people on board. Malaysian authorities are not ruling out the possibility of the aircraft having crashed somewhere over the Andamans Sea. Indian Navy ships have already been deployed to search the area. "The possible area that has been marked out by Malaysian authorities includes part of the Andamans Sea. We have already deployed two ships to carry out Search and Rescue (SAR) operations there. We are also prepared to launch aircraft to participate in the search. Naval headquarters are monitoring the activities and the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman & Nicobar Command (CinCAN) is in charge of operations here," said Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, chief of staff, A&N Command. Indian Navy ships deployed for anti-piracy patrolling the Malacca Straits have already joined hands with navies of other countries to search for the missing plane. The deployment of aircraft by India will depend upon coordination between the nations involved in the search, Pillai said. He said that even the Indian Air Force and Coast Guard may participate in the SAR operations. “We are ready to use our air assets but this can be done only after complete understanding has been reached between all the countries participating in the search. We have come to know that some ships from the Australian and New Zealand navies have also started SAR operations in the Andamans Sea. Air operations can be carried out after better coordination. We may also press our P8I Poseidon aircraft into service," the CoS added. The movement of ships, particularly in international waters, is one thing. However, better coordination and understanding is required for use of aircraft as foreign navies wouldn't take too kindly to Indian military aircraft, with sophisticated surveillance equipment, flying too close to their vessels. Aircraft involved in SAR operations may also cross over into another country's air space and this may lead to unnecessary complications. The P-8I is Boeing's Indian Navy variant of the US Navy's P-8A Posidon. It is a long-range maritime reconnaissance anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The first one joined the Indian Navy May 15, 2013. Several more of there aircraft are to join service. The IAF may also pitch in with the Su-30 MKI aircraft that have superior surveillance equipment attached. These are known as Synthetic Aperture Radars. The Sukhois were engaged to locate the wreckage of YSR Reddy's chopper after it crashed in September, 2009. The Su-30 MKIs had then been deployed from Bareilly and mid-air refuellers had flown in from Agra to increase their endurance.

Source: The Times of India, 14 March 2014

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Plane Deliberately Diverted, Malaysia Says

Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia announced on Saturday afternoon that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 left its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing as the result of deliberate action by someone aboard. Mr. Najib also said that search efforts in the South China Sea had been ended, and that technical experts now believed that the aircraft could have ended up anywhere in one of two zones — one as far north as Kazakhstan in Central Asia, and the other crossing the southern Indian Ocean. That conclusion was based on a final signal from the plane picked up on satellite at 8:11 a.m. on March 8, nearly seven hours after ground control lost contact with the jet, he said.

While Mr. Najib said that investigators had not ruled out alternatives to hijacking, his remarks represented official confirmation that the disappearance of the Boeing 777-200 a week earlier had not been an accident. He noted that one communications system had been disabled as the plane flew over the northeast coast of Malaysia and that a second system, a transponder aboard the aircraft, had stopped broadcasting its location, altitude, speed and other information at 1:21 a.m. while the plane was one-third of the way across the Gulf of Thailand from Malaysia to Vietnam.

Mr. Najib’s news conference came a day after American officials and others familiar with the investigation told The New York Times that Flight 370 had experienced significant changes in altitude after it lost contact with ground control, and altered its course more than once as if still under the command of a pilot. Military radar data subsequently showed that the aircraft turned and flew west across northern Malaysia before arcing out over the wide northern end of the Strait of Malacca, headed at cruising altitude for the Indian Ocean.

The Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy said in a statement on Saturday that its search for the plane now encompassed the Strait of Malacca and beyond to the Bay of Bengal — an enormous area. But Mr. Najib said that representatives of many more governments across the region had been contacted, since the plane might have been flying for many hours after it left Malaysian airspace. The flight had been scheduled to land at 6:30 a.m. in Beijing that day, so the latest time given by Mr. Najib — 8:11 a.m. — could have been toward the very end of the plane’s fuel.

By noting that investigators had not yet concluded that the episode was a hijacking, Mr. Najib seemed to leave open the possibility that the cockpit crew might have chosen to take the aircraft to an unknown destination. He declined to take any questions, and a spokesman said that technical experts would hold a separate news conference to answer questions later in the day. But officials later said that the second news conference had been canceled.

“The investigation team is making further calculations, which will indicate how far the aircraft may have flown after the last point of contact,” Mr. Najib said, reading a statement in English. “Due to the type of satellite data, we are “However, based on this new data, the aviation authorities of Malaysia and their international counterparts have determined that the plane’s last communication with a satellite was in one of two possible corridors: a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, or a southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean,” he said.

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“The investigation team is working to further refine their information.”

The northern arc described by Mr. Najib passes through or close to some of the world’s most volatile countries that are home to insurgent groups, but also over highly militarized areas with robust air defense networks, some run by the U.S. military. The arc passes close to northern Iran, through Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, and through northern India and the Himalayan mountains and Myanmar. An aircraft flying on that arc would have to pass through air defense networks in India and Pakistan, whose mutual border is heavily militarized, as well as through Afghanistan, where the United States and other NATO countries have operated air bases for more than a decade.

Air bases near that arc include Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, where the U.S. Air Force’s 455th Air Expeditionary Wing is based, and a large Indian air base, Hindon Air Force Station. The southern arc, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean, travels over open water with few islands stretching all the way to Antarctica. If the aircraft took that path, it may have passed near Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These remote islands, with a population of fewer than 1,000 people, have a small airport. To the east of that route is Western Australia. The Indian Ocean, the third-largest in the world, has an average depth of more than 12,000 feet, or more than two miles. Mikael Robertsson, a co-founder of Flightradar24, a global aviation tracking service, said the way the plane’s communications were shut down pointed to the involvement of someone with considerable aviation expertise and knowledge of the air route, possibly a crew member, willing or unwilling.

The Boeing’s transponder was switched off just as the plane passed from Malaysian to Vietnamese air traffic control space, thus making it more likely that the plane’s absence from communications would not arouse attention, Mr. Robertsson said by telephone from Sweden. “Always when you fly, you are in contact with air traffic control in some country,” he said. “Instead of contacting the Vietnam air traffic control, the transponder signal was turned off, so I think the timing of turning off the signal just after you have left Malaysian air traffic control indicates someone did this on purpose, and he found the perfect moment when he wasn’t in control by Malaysia or Vietnam. He was like in no-man’s country.”

The signs thus indicated involvement of the crew, Mr. Robertsson said, but he stressed that those signs were not definitive, nor did they prove whether any involvement was willing or coerced. The possible northern corridor of the missing flight described by Mr. Najib bristles with military radar, making it more likely that the plane either went south or, if it did fly north, did not make it far, Mr. Robertsson said.

There, officials believe, the plane turned from a southwest-bound course, climbed to a higher altitude and flew northwest over the Strait of Malacca toward the Indian Ocean.An officer from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Rescue Coordination Center, which oversees searches for missing ships and planes in seas under Australian responsibility, said the center had not started a search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, and could not do so unless the scope of the search was narrowed to a more specific point that fell under Australia’s responsibility. He also said the center could act only if Malaysia, which has been leading the search, made a request. “It’s still half the Indian Ocean,” he said, “so where do you start at this point?”

Source: The New York Times, 15 March 2014

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" Mahindra Defence Naval Systems eyes strong revenue growth

" India Ratings revises outlook on shipping industry to stable from negative

" Global Shippers Must Tighten Belts, China's COSCO Chairman Says

" Polar Shipping: Maritime Chiefs Work on Mandatory Code to Ensure Safety

" House of Representatives Ratifies Bill Creating Single Maritime Agency

" Electronic Charts Support Safety in the Pacific

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Mahindra Defence Naval Systems Eyes Strong Revenue Growth Mahindra Defence Naval Systems (MDNS), manufacturer of defence systems for Indian Navy is planning to double its revenue and eyeing significant growth from its defence manufacturing products. The company today inaugurated its new underwater systems and naval applications manufacturing facility in Chakan, near Pune. MDNS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mahindra Defence Systems,of Mahindra Group. MDNS has posted revenue of Rs 20 crore in the current financial year and planning to double the revenue by end of next financial year. According to the company the new facility will enhance its advanced manufacturing expertise in the area of naval defence systems. The new plant will support the naval defence business of Mahindra Defence Systems, which already has a land and radar systems business that operates from Prithla, near Faridabad. The company has a order book of Rs 100 crore for the next 18 months. “This project is extremely important for us. We have entered into the critical defence sector for long haul. It signifies our intent to build technology, components and capabilities. Defence system and technologies can not be developed without private sector’s participation. In the western countries, private companies are playing important role for manufacturing defence products,” said Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group. Mahindra also elaborated that if required the company may also look joint venture partners. “This is a beginning of a long journey for private players in defence sector. We will do joint venture if necessary, otherwise, Mahindra is very much capable of manufacturing defence products,” he added. “Mahindra Defence Systems now has a three dimensional capability encompassing land, sea and air domains and we are also working to derive synergies between our Defence business and other Mahindra Group companies. Looking ahead, there are a number of new projects that we are developing and we expect to see these come to fruition the near future,” said S P Shukla, president – group strategy & defence sector and chief brand officer, Mahindra Group. MDNS supplies various types of launchers for ships, as well as systems and components to customers other than the Indian Navy. These include the ordnance factories board, atomic energy commission, defence R&D organisation and other private sector companies. MDNS launchers are fitted on board certain front line warships of the Indian Navy. In the next one year the facility MDNS will manufacture products like sea mines, decoy launchers, missile containers, torpedoes components, shells for torpedoes, special carbon fibre products, gun components and spares, torpedoes and sonobuoys. Source: Business Standard, 4 March 2014

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India Ratings Revises Outlook on Shipping Industry to Stable From Negative India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd on Thursday revised its outlook on the shipping sector for the next fiscal to stable from negative on grounds that the credit profile of Indian shipping companies is unlikely to deteriorate further as freight rates stay stable.The rating firm said it believes that the credit profile of Indian corporates in the sector is unlikely to deteriorate further as the bulk of the ships owned by Indian shipping companies comprises of crude oil and product tankers (as on 30 September 2013 at 61.9%), a segment in which freight rates are likely to remain at around current levels in FY15.

This stable outlook comes at a time when India’s largest shipping company by fleet Shipping Corp. of India Ltd reported a loss of Rs.65.67 crore for the quarter ended 31 December while the largest private sector shipping company Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd’s net profit declined 83% to Rs.13.13 crore in the same quarter. Many shipping companies had embarked on debt-funded capital expenditure plans in 2007-08 and since then, freight rates have dropped considerably due to overcapacity across segments as well as moderation in demand growth which led to a deterioration in the credit profiles of shipping companies globally.Global trade volumes were muted in the first half of 2013 and only picked up tentatively in the second half, led by an improvement in industrial activity in the US and European economies. “Therefore, seaborne trade in 2013 is expected to have grown at a similar rate as the 4.3% growth seen in 2012. The agency expects a similar growth rate for 2014,” India Ratings said. “Bunker fuel prices continued to remain high in 2013, around the same levels as witnessed in 2012. The high rates continued to hinder the revival in the profitability of shipping companies globally even in segments where freight or charter rates had somewhat stabilised,” it said. The rating agency said the outlook upgrade to “stable” is unlikely to change at least for the next one year. “A sustained growth in international trade led by increasing demand from Europe and the US could lead to an improvement in container volumes, however likely capacity additions will keep freight rates under check,” it said. However, it cautioned that a higher-than-anticipated capacity addition in the tanker segment or a moderation in global trade activity could lead to the outlook being revised back to negative. Source: Livemint.com, 06 March 2014

Global Shippers Must Tighten Belts, China's COSCO Chairman Says Global shipping firms must prepare for another tough year as a glut in global capacity will continue to weigh on profits and margins, the chairman of China's biggest shipping group, China Ocean Shipping Group Co. (COSCO) said. "The industry turnaround will still take a long time," Ma Zehua told Reuters in an interview this week. "There are a lot of challenges ahead." COSCO Group is one of China's top 100 central government-controlled conglomerates. The firm operates more than 700 merchant vessels with shipping lines covering 1,600 ports. The group controls five listed companies, including

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COSCO Corp (Singapore) reported a 71 percent decline in net profit last year, while China COSCO Holdings Co, the group's flagship, said it should return to profitability after posting losses in 2011 and 2012 following the sale of its logistics business, stakes in a container manufacturer and office properties. Ma, however, said he wasn't sure China COSCO could make a profit this year given the uncertain outlook for the global economy. "We haven't announced any target (for China COSCO) because we can't say for sure it won't make losses in 2014," Ma said. "There aren't that many ways left to tackle losses through asset disposal."The shipping industry has been battling overcapacity since the onset of the global financial crisis, as the transport market needed to digest the large number of new vessels that flooded the market between 2007 and 2009, even as the world's economy sank into its biggest slowdown since the 1930s. While the outlook for the shipping industry is improving, excess capacity remains a big headache. According to a recent transport sector survey by international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, 40 percent of those polled cited overcapacity as the biggest threat to recovery in the industry.Maersk Line, part of Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, cut its fleet container capacity by about 1 percent between mid-year 2012 and 2013, and its chief executive Soren Skou said last year that the market may not recover until 2018. China COSCO also sidelined 1 to 2 percent of its ships this year, fewer than last year, Ma said. In February, COSCO Group and rival China Shipping Group signed a strategic agreement to share resources for terminal operation, shipbuilding and other areas. Ma declined to talk specifically about the agreement or say whether the two firms would consider consolidation. "Many people have asked us (about merging), but we have nothing to say about it," he said. Source: Reuters, 13 March 2014 Polar Shipping: Maritime Chiefs Work on Mandatory Code to Ensure Safety Scientists, regulators and shipping industry representatives are working on a mandatory code for ships in polar regions after the rescue of the Australasian-chartered MV Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica. The International Maritime Organisation secretary general, Koji Sekimizu, told a workshop in London late last month that members had agreed a mandatory code was needed over and above existing rules and guidelines for ships operating in polar waters. “Work to finalise the code at the end of this year is well under way,” he said. The organisation’s marine environment protection committee and maritime safety committee, meeting over the next three months, will work on the code. It will cover ship design and construction, training and watch-keeping, and on-ship systems and equipment.“The safety of ships operating in the harsh, remote and vulnerable polar areas and the protection of the pristine environments around the two poles have always been a matter of concern for IMO and many relevant requirements, provisions and recommendations have been developed over the years,” Sekimizu said.

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A mandatory code was needed because polar shipping would grow in volume and diversify in coming years, he said.Ships operating in the Arctic and Antarctic environments were exposed to a number of unique risks and the remoteness of the areas made rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly.The Australian government is trying to recoup about $2m it spent helping rescue passengers this summer from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition aboard the Russian research ship, which became trapped in heavy sea ice on Christmas Eve. Source: The Guardian, 7 March 2014

House of Representatives Ratifies Bill Creating Single Maritime Agency House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr., in a statement, said the Senate has also ratified the bill and is now set for transmittal to President Benigno S. C. Aquino III for signature. Mr. Belmonte welcomed the ratification of the bill, as he underscored the importance of passing the said piece of legislation. "It is significant that it is the first major bill that we have passed in this session. The Philippines provides the most number of seafarers in the whole world, and their future is endangered because there are changes necessary in their training, accreditation and skills here," he said. Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus F. Madrona, co-author of the house version of the bill, said with the ratification, the measure will eventually "make our seafarers the seafarers of choice and be recognized as global maritime professionals." Last month, both chambers of Congress unanimously passed on third and final reading their respective versions of the bill -- House Bill 3766 and Senate Bill 2043 -- that will make MARINA the single maritime authority. This as the country hopes to avoid the blacklisting of tens of thousands of Philippine seafarers by the European Union (EU) for unsatisfactory compliance with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention). Last April, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), which reviews the maritime training of non-EU countries that supply the union with seafarers, audited the Philippines, and found deficiencies in compliance with the country’s obligations under the 2010 Manila Amendments of the STCW Convention, particularly regarding the quality of education of Filipino seafarers. EMSA conducted another assessment last October and has yet to release the results of the audit. Mr. Madrona, in the same statement said that should Filipino seafarers be blacklisted from European vessels, "the country tends to lose $4.8 billion income." For his part, Party-list Rep. Jesulito A. Manalo (ANGKLA), who had filed the house version of the bill, said world trade amounts to $18.5 trillion of which, 90% is in shipping "run by 1.4 million seafarers, that 30% are Filipinos." Mr. Belmonte pointed out that the bill, "if properly implemented," will address concerns relating to Filipino seafarers. "That is why it is a real contribution to the future of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who also contribute to our country," the House Speaker said. Under the bill, MARINA will assume the powers and functions regarding the issuance, validation, verification, correction, revocation or cancellation of certificates of competency, endorsement, proficiency and documentary evidence required of all seafarers.

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These functions are currently exercised by the Professional Regulation Commission, Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Telecommunications Commission, and Department of Health (DoH). MARINA will also head CHEd’s Technical Panel on Maritime Education that, in turn, will formulate, review and recommend to the CHEd commission en banc all policies, standards, and guidelines for maritime education, including curricula, facilities and educational guidelines. The maritime authority will also work with the DoH to ensure that seafarers’ medical fitness complies with international conventions or treaties and existing laws. The Health department is tasked to accredit medical facilities and practitioners that are qualified in accordance with the STCW Convention standards. The bill will supersede Executive Order 75, issued by Mr. Aquino in 2012 to similarly appoint MARINA as the sole oversight authority over seafarers’ compliance. Following the ratification of the bill, Mr. Belmonte expressed optimism for the future of the Filipino seafarers. "Let’s not forget that we were there before them," Mr. Belmonte said, referring to other international seafarers. "For 250 years that the Spanish galleon trade crossed the Pacific, they had Filipino crew members," he added. Source: Business World, 5 March 2014 Electronic Charts Support Safety in the Pacific Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga have welcomed the completion of electronic navigational charts for the south-west Pacific. The development of these charts by Land Information New Zealand for Niue Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tokelau is part of an initiative funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme to improve maritime safety in the region. "Maritime safety has long been a concern in the south-west Pacific, with many charts no longer meeting the needs of shipping in the area. The problem has worsened recently through the increase in large cruise vessels navigating in the poorly charted region," Mr Williamson says. The International Maritime Organisation under the Convention on the Safety of Life At Sea set 2012-18 as the deadline for certain vessels, particularly passenger vessels, tankers and other large ships, to transfer from paper based navigation to the sole use of electronic charts. Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga says until now these areas have relied on paper charts only, and New Zealand’s aid commitment to support tourism made it imperative they be converted to electronic form. "While these charts have limitations due to the age of the original data, Land Information New Zealand is continuing hydrographic risk assessment work to prioritise areas for survey. This will determine the nature and scope of chart improvements." Risk assessments have been carried out in Vanuatu and the Cook Islands, and LINZ will soon finish risk assessment work in Tonga. Source: Voxy.co.nz, 6 March 2014

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" Mandatory code for ships in polar region

" Australia Instigates New Maritime Environmental Emergency Plan

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Mandatory code for ships in polar region

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told a workshop in London late last month that IMO members had agreed a mandatory code was needed over and above existing rules and guidelines for ships operating in polar waters. "Work to finalise the code at the end of this year is well under way," he said. The organisation's marine environment protection committee and maritime safety committee, meeting over the next three months, will work on the code. The mandatory code will cover ship design and construction, training and watch-keeping, and on-ship systems and equipment.

"The safety of ships operating in the harsh, remote and vulnerable polar areas and the protection of the pristine environments around the two poles have always been a matter of concern for IMO and many relevant requirements, provisions and recommendations have been developed over the years," Sekimizu said. A mandatory code was needed because polar shipping would grow in volume and diversify in coming years, he said. Ships operating in the Arctic and Antarctic environments were exposed to a number of unique risks and the remoteness of the areas made rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly. The Australian government is trying to recoup about $2 million it spent helping rescue passengers this summer from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition aboard the Russian research ship, which became trapped in heavy sea ice on Christmas Eve.

Source: Herald Sun News, 07 March 2014

Australia Instigates New Maritime Environmental Emergency Plan

Australian industry, state and federal governments have endorsed a new National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies.The plan sets out the cooperative arrangements between governments and industry to respond to maritime pollution and shipping casualty incidents. The plan, managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, was reviewed with extensive input from key stakeholders, from industry and government, drawing on their experience with maritime emergencies both domestically and internationally since the last plan was put in place in 2001.

AMSA Chief Executive Graham Peachey said the new plan combines pollution response and the management of maritime casualties for the first time in its 40 year existence. “Following extensive collaboration with industry, state and territory governments, and emergency services, the new plan is designed to integrate more effectively within Australia’s disaster management arrangements,” Peachey said. “AMSA thanks all involved in the formulation of the new National Plan.”

A risk assessment, which was the cornerstone of the review, resulted in a boost to National Plan response equipment stockpiles across Australia. “These stockpiles are strategically located in nine ports around the coastline and can be drawn on in the event of an oil spill or a stricken vessel causing pollution in our marine environment,” Peachey said. “AMSA invests in a significant training program so people around Australia have the skills to respond to any potential marine pollution.”

The risk assessment also resulted in the establishment of emergency towage capabilities in two new regions, under contract arrangements, Peachey said. “These vessels can be called on to respond to marine pollution or to tow ships causing marine pollution.

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AMSA’s emergency towage vessel in Cairns also patrols and responds to any marine pollution event in the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and Coral Sea under the National Plan.” The National Plan has been endorsed by Federal and State and Territory governments and supersedes the 2001 National Plan to Combat Pollution of the Sea by Oil and other Hazardous and Noxious Substances.

Source: Maritime Executive, 12 March 2014