How can small states with an interest in maritime security develop a posture in the Indo-Pacific that is not only strategic, but also sustainable in the current security landscape? With recent anti-global tendencies and the (re)turn to geopolitics in foreign policy, the maritime domain plays a significant role in facilitating power projection. This is seen in the Indo-Pacific. Its constituent seas, the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, are bordered by countries with economic, military and cultural importance, and the region’s maritime supply chains are vital for global trade. Yet the Indo-Pacific is experiencing increased hardening of threats and diversification of tension at sea. The high seas – as opposed to sovereign territories on land – are “neutral” spaces; they are international, belong to us all and are not the territory of any state. This makes it possible to create strong political, economic and cultural messaging to the world through violent means without infringing a state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – but with threats to the freedom of navigation enshrined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). Lire la suite