I am going to make two presentations in New Caledonia and Singapore on self-determination, maritime seutrity and Indo-Pacific vision.
Self-Determination of SIDS create Transnational Crimes and Global Disorder
Small Islands obtained huge Exclusive Economic Zone (hereafter EEZ) under the third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereafter UNCLOS) during 1970s. Most of small islands obtained their sovereignty at the same time with these huge ocean areas and possible resources, which may support their economical independence. However, most of small islands states can not manage their huge oceans, rather invited all kinds of transnational crimes such as illegal drug trafficking, human trafficking, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated(IUU) and money laundering which comes with IUU fishing boats. Another problem of these small islands states is so called “sovereignty business”. One of well-known “sovereignty business” is ship registry which provide their flag to the ships of all over the world, which include North Korea or who assist North Korea. The small island states never have responsibility of their ship registry business, even they do not know who use their flags. Thus, current ocean regime under UNCLOSIII tells us that small island states who has huge EEZ without responsibility created global crimes, disorders and instability. This situation challenged us to re-visit meaning of “Self-Determination”, especially applying to the small island states in the Pacific. In this paper, first look into the limit of their capacity of law enforcement and other management resources. Secondly, weak and corrupted autocracy government mechanism, especially with connection of tax haven and money laundering which create fake marine protected area and “Trust Fund”. Thirdly, argue the current BBNJ discussion in the UN, as well as meaningless slogan and even violate UNCLOS principle - “Blue Pacific Continent” by the Pacific Islands Forum.
Free and Open Indo-Pacific and Maritime Order
Prime Minister Abe clearly described Free and Open Indo-Pacific and maritime security during the 8th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting. Why did he need to focus on these two concepts? FOIP covers a huge ocean that includes Pacific Island Countries which have jurisdictional rights and obligations in their EEZ. However most of the PICs do not have the capacity to manage and develop their EEZ. A worse case is that they utilize their sovereign rights for ship-registry business which sometimes supports North Korea. Their huge EEZ is a lawless space that allows drug and other trans-national crimes. Secondly, PM Abe introduced a historical background of the region by mentioning the ancestors of the Pacific Islanders who a few thousand years ago had already colonized the Indo-Pacific region with advanced seafaring skills and introducing and exchange foods such as the banana. What was he trying to say? The rule based FOIP concept is the antithesis of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. BRI enclosed resources and military development which is defying international law. FOIP does not try to exclude BRI, even is not loyalty test but the opportunity for BRI to change the direction to “Rule based Free and Open”.
