DEFENCE WHITE PAPER Table 2.1: Malaysia’s Defence, Development and Diplomatic Initiatives. SPHERES Defence Development Diplomacy MALAYSIA’S KEY INITIATIVES AND INVOLVEMENTS - ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) & ADMM-Plus ASEAN Militaries Ready Group (AMRG) on HADR Malacca Straits Patrol (MSP) Trilateral Cooperative Arrangement (TCA) International Monitoring Team (IMT) in Mindanao Malaysia Field Hospital in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh Malaysian Defence Cooperation Programme (MDCP) - Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) & ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) South-South Cooperation Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) - - ASA, ASEAN and ASEAN Community Neutralisation of Southeast Asia / ZOPFAN Promoting several international norms such as “common but differentiated responsibility” and “common and shared heritage of mankind” ASEAN Plus Three (APT) & East Asia Summit (EAS) 54. Malaysia is situated at the heart of the dynamic Asian region. It is a maritime nation with continental roots that is connected to mainland Southeast Asia and Eurasia by land, and the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean on one side, with the Malacca Straits and the Indian Ocean on the other. 55. As a country surrounded by the sea and depending on it for its national well-being, Malaysia is a maritime nation by all definitions. All maritime nations, big or small, are characterised by three attributes, i.e. resources, risks and resolve. Malaysia has all the three elements: 29 i. Resources and Interests. The maritime domains are one of the sources of Malaysia’s prosperity. The seas, seabed, subsoil, waterways, airspace and continental shelf are crucial to trade and commerce, marine fisheries and fishery resources, means of transportation, people-to-people connectivity and other modes of the nation’s wealth creation; ii. Risks and Challenges. The maritime areas, at the same time, are also a source of external threats that challenge Malaysia’s sovereignty and sovereign rights over the MMZ, strategic waterways, airspace and critical lines of communication. These cover territorial disputes and overlapping claims, big power actions and interactions, sea robbery and piracy, as well as other sea-based non-traditional security issues; and iii. Resolve and Actions. The maritime domain is an area where Malaysia is able to demonstrates its resolve to protect national interests as well as to influence and contribute to the region. To protect our resources and mitigate risks from the sea as outlined above, the maritime domain is an indispensable avenue around which Malaysia can transform our national resolve into an array of regional cooperative mechanisms. By advancing a series of initiatives with ASEAN member states, Malaysia has succeeded in turning ideas into concrete cooperative arrangements in defence, development and diplomatic spheres. Some of these mechanisms and related partnerships are discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.