INTRODUCTION

Security cooperation means that two or more international actors, driven by mutually beneficial interests, take common actions to deal with the national security or regional security affairs in a coordinated way in order to achieve the anticipated goals of their respective national security.

China and ASEAN member countries are important neighbours and strategic partners linked by the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca to its west. Therefore, this region is of great geostrategic significance to the world. At the same time, China and ASEAN countries are faced with a number of common challenges in their maritime security.

At present, almost all the countries in the region hope to strengthen cooperation in Asia-Pacific affairs, advocate building trust through dialogue, solve differences through consultation and seek security through cooperation.

However, it should be pointed out that regional security cooperation between China and ASEAN falls far behind the regional economic cooperation and development, and does not meet the needs of the developing regional security situation. In fact, China and ASEAN not only need the security cooperation, but have a great deal of common and complementary interests. Therefore, the maritime security cooperation between China and ASEAN has great strategic significance.

The aim of this chapter is to analyse the situation of the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation with a view to proposing steps to strengthen such cooperation. The following aspects are covered: (a) Geostrategic situation (b) Common challenges in China-ASEAN maritime security (c) A good beginning to the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (d) The basic foundation for the China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (e) Principles of China-ASEAN maritime security cooperation (f) Flexible and diversified forms of ASEAN-China maritime security cooperation.

GEOSTRATEGIC SITUATION

The sea area around China and ASEAN states is at the crossroad linking the Indian and Pacific oceans as well as the Asian and Oceania continents. Since ancient times, this area has been the strategic sea lane of communication (SLOC) between the countries in the East, famously known as the “Silk Road at Sea”. With the continued development of economic globalization, this sea area is increasingly important to the global economic and military affairs.