March 11, 2015
Preserving the Rules: Countering Coercion in Maritime Asia
Over nearly the past year, the Center for a New American Security’s Asia-Pacific Security Program has conducted a broad-based research effort on how to preserve and build Asian maritime security. Through video interviews, blog posts, and especially eight commissioned papers from leading thinkers (six of which have been individually released with two to follow), the Maritime Strategy Project has solicited diverse views on how the United States, its allies and partners can promote good behavior and push back on coercion within these critical waterways. Those eight papers will be released as a compendium in the coming weeks, which is meant to contribute to thinking about how to preserve a peaceful, rules-based system in the Indo-Pacific maritime.
This capstone essay by Dr. Patrick Cronin and Alexander Sullivan both summarizes the other essays and puts them into the broader context of tremendous pressure being exerted on existing rules of the road and rule-making processes in Asian waters. Cronin and Sullivan describe a pattern of tailored coercion that has unfolded over the last seven years and classify its major components. They further argue that in view of this pattern, engagement of a rising China must be paired with concrete actions to push back on destabilizing behavior where necessary. As they write, “It is not enough to recognize the breaking of rules through coercion or intimidation; the preservation of a rules-based system requires doing something about such behavior.” The authors offer up a framework comprising – in addition to engagement – cost imposition, denial, and offset strategies. They describe the basic tools available for Washington and its allies and partners to implement those strategies, and close with some more concrete recommendations for policymakers.
In addition to this synoptic essay, look for the entire series here, including the final two papers and the edited volume to be posted in the coming weeks.
Papers in the Maritime Strategy Series
- Cost-Imposing Strategies: A Brief Primer by Dr. Thomas Mahnken
- The Challenge of Responding to Maritime Coercion by Dr. Patrick Cronin
- China’s Tailored Coercion and Its Rivals’ Actions and Responses: What the Numbers Tell Us by Dr. Christopher Yung and Patrick McNulty
- Playing It Safe: Malaysia’s Approach to the South China Sea and Implications for the United States by Prashanth Parameswaran
- Nonmilitary Approaches to Countering Chinese Coercion: A Code of Practice for the Asia-Pacific by Dr. John Lee
- Indirect Cost Imposition Strategies in the South China Sea: U.S. Leadership and ASEAN Centrality by Dr. Carlyle Thayer [FORTHCOMING MARCH 2015]
- Going Anti-Access at Sea: How Japan Can Turn the Tables on China by Dr. Toshi Yoshihara
- Shades of Gray: Technology, Strategic Competition and Stability in Maritime Asia by Amy Chang, Ben Fitzgerald and Dr. Van Jackson [FORTHCOMING MARCH 2015]
Authors
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Alexander Sullivan
Adjunct Fellow, Asia-Pacific Security Program
Alexander Sullivan is an Adjunct Fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program, where he focuses on US-China relations, maritime security, regional military modernization and U....
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Patrick M. Cronin
Senior Advisor and Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Security Program
Patrick M. Cronin is a Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Previously, he was the Senior ...
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