Earlier this week, the commander of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet made headlines when he suggested that ASEAN countries could cooperate to form a maritime force to patrol areas of the South China Sea.
According to Bloomberg, Vice Admiral Robert Thomas said on Tuesday at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition – held in Malaysia following the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (which I covered for The Diplomat here) – that countries could streamline cooperation on maritime security while respecting sovereignty and coastal space, as was the case with counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden.
“Perhaps easier said than done, from both a policy and organization perspective, such an initiative could help crystallize the operational objectives in the training events that ASEAN navies want to pursue,” Thomas reportedly said at a panel session. “If ASEAN members were to take the lead in organizing something along those lines, trust me, the U.S. 7th Fleet would be ready to support,” he added.
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