Position, Transportation, and Resources: Japan's Potential and Strategic Choices Under Analytical Geopolitics

A major component and concern of the OBOR Initiative is the utilisation of the concept of SLOCs, namely, the maritime trade routes employed by ships. In addition to the traditional shipping lanes, there exist potential new routes, for example, weather permitting, via the Arctic Ocean. From the European perspective, cargo shipped from the ports of East Asia via the Polar Silk Road would take a relatively shorter duration than using the routes through the South East Asian seas. However, the sea lanes of communication via the geographical choke points, for example the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, the Bab-el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz and Strait of Gibraltar have experienced, and still report, a fair share of problems in the context of maritime security, especially acts of piracy and terrorism. Ensuring safety of the ships and the cargoes they carry, the personnel and the commercial value of the ships is of prime concern to operators and governments of the littoral states. Whereas freedom of navigation and innocent passage are rights that apply to all commercial shipping, a ‘legal grey area’ exists for ships engaged in scientific research and other activities. This chapter highlights the problem areas, examines the issues and offers an analysis of maritime security.

Development programs in many African countries include the reallocation of land and the nationalization of mineral resources for the benefit of less privileged communities in those countries. Implementing these programs is, however, quite complicated. This paper pays special attention to the confiscation of the land of white farmers in Zimbabwe as part of a development program, and the rapid decline of the economy of that country in consequence of this program. It serves as a reminder that depriving landowners of their property rights is counterproductive and is therefore not a feasible development strategy. As far as the right to explore natural resources is concerned, the paper highlights the repeated resolutions of the United Nations proclaiming the “inalienable right of all states freely to dispose of their natural resources in accordance with their national interests” as an inherent aspect of sovereignty [e.g. G.A. Res. 626, 7 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 20), at 18, U.N. Doc. A/2361 (1952).], with occasional reminders that developing countries were in need of encouragement “in the proper use and exploitation of their natural wealth and resources” [e.g. E.S.C. Res. 1737, 54 U.N. ESCOR, Supp., No. 1 (1973).]. These resolutions were adopted in the context of the decolonization policy of the United Nations and were mainly aimed at denouncing the exploitation of the mineral resources of African countries by colonial powers [G.A. Res. 2288, 22 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 16), at 48, U.N. Doc. A/6716 (1967)., para 3]. The emphasis of international law relating to the natural resources over time also emphasized the right to self-determination of peoples. As early as 1958, the General Assembly, in a resolution through which the Commission on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources was established, stated that the “permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and resources” of states is “a basic constituent of the right to self-determination” [G.A. Res. 1314, 13 U.N. GAOR, Supp. (No. 18), at 27, U.N. Doc. A/4090 (1958).]. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights similarly provides “All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it” [Art 21(1)]. This provision featured prominently in several judgments of courts of law, such as the one of the South African Constitutional Court in the case of Bengwenyama Minerals (Pty) Ltd & Others v Gemorah Resources (Pty) Ltd & Others [2011] (3) BCLR 229 (CC) (3) BCLR 229 (CC) and of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001), Communication 155/96, 15th Annual Report. AHRLR 60 (Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001), Communication 155/96, 15th Annual Report.) Communication 155/96. In view of these directives of international law, the paper will critically analyze the South African Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002, which deprived landowners of the ownership of unexplored minerals and petroleum products and proclaimed mineral and petroleum resources to be “the common heritage of all the people of South Africa” with the state as the custodian thereof.

Flexibility is an issue widely studied in the manufacturing literature, but only recently has attention been paid to flexibility in logistics and supply chain management. Flexibility is taking prominence due to the uncertainties and disruptions created in the production and distribution processes of an organisation and its respective supply chains. This paper aims at studying the level of transport flexibility achieved in the ocean transportation industry to gain understanding on the strategic choices of carriers to cope with market changes and customer demand. Our analysis indicates the different strategic choices ocean transportation companies need to make with regards to transport flexibility.

Maritime transportation security can be violated by piracy and terrorist attacks along with a wide variety of threats which may interrupt the free flow of goods through sea lanes of communication. Any disruption of this flow due to threats which may be encountered in international and territorial waters can adversely affect global economy. This paper aims to review the security challenges faced by maritime industry involving risks emanating through marine environment, threats to sustainable maritime economics, mutual international efforts to preserve stability, security in maritime areas of interest to maintain the flow of commodities throughout the World and conventional maritime security risks as well as the potential economic benefits of the Arctic Region occurring from increasingly diminishing of the sea ice. Considering recent developments in the Arctic and the new security concerns, emerging security strategies in the Arctic Region with a view to its effects on Maritime Economics is emphasized.

Korean Ocean Transportation and Sea Lanes of Communication

Whether mineral and natural resources (NR) are a blessing or a curse for economic growth (ECON_G) is still a debatable issue among scholars and policymakers. Therefore, the primary goal of the present study is to investigate the relationship between mineral resources (MR), NR, and ECON_G to re‐assess the “Resource Curse Theory.” For this purpose, a panel of six top resource‐rich developing economies (China, Brazil, Russia, Iran, the Republic of the Congo, and Saudi‐Arabia) over the 1995 to 2021 period is analyzed using dynamic ordinary least square, fully modifies ordinary least square and method of moments quantile regression approaches. The basic findings of the above‐mentioned techniques reveal the significantly positive impact of both NR and MR on ECON_G in the selected economies. The estimation outputs of the method of moments quantile regression also reveal the significant positive contribution of these resources in ECON_G at all quantiles (0.10–0.90). Thus, the study finds that the Resource Bless Hypothesis is valid as both NR and MR support the absence of the Resource Curse Hypothesis in these countries. Furthermore, the findings of the Granger Causality test reveal that bidirectional causal association is present between NR and ECON_G and MR and ECON_G. The study recommends that policymakers and governments in the resource‐rich countries should promote the development of the mining sector and sustainable resource extraction by properly monitoring the resource sector. More importantly, implementing resource governance initiatives are needed to be prioritized for transforming resources as a blessing for the studied countries.

This chapter presents a South Korean perspective on the Arctic region, and discusses strategies for cooperative maritime capacity-sharing which have been addressed by various governmental, quasi-governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). South Korea’s interests in the Arctic region include the maintenance of peace and good order, the development of energy reserves, and the opening of new sea lanes of Communication (SLOC) in the High North.

The role of BIMSTEC, from the lens of maritime security and connectivity, is important not only for the Bay of Bengal but also for connectivity between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceanic regions, through which several International Shipping Lanes (ISLs) and Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs) crisscross. This needs to be viewed within the broad framework of the emerging maritime space of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region. Within the Indo-Pacific are also positioned other regional organisations like the Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). BIMSTEC along with IORA and ASEAN cover a large and vital maritime space of the Indo-Pacific region, and in addition to common members, also share commonalities of challenges and risks especially in the maritime domain. However, these three organisations have largely been working in silos even when it is known that inter-organisational cooperative mechanisms can synergise output. Given this background, this chapter makes a case, using a theoretical framework of ‘domain similarity,’ for BIMSTEC to forge links with ASEAN and IORA in order to enhance maritime security cooperation within the Indo-Pacific.

Recently, scholars have called for a “critical ocean studies” for the twenty-first century and have fathomed the oceanic depths in relationship to submarine immersions, multispecies others, feminist and Indigenous epistemologies, wet ontologies, and the acidification of an Anthropocene ocean. In this scholarly turn to the ocean, the concepts of fluidity, flow, routes, and mobility have been emphasized over other, less poetic terms such as blue water navies, mobile offshore bases, high-seas exclusion zones, sea lanes of communication (SLOCs), and maritime “choke points.” Yet this strategic military grammar is equally vital for a twenty-first-century critical ocean studies for the Anthropocene. Perhaps because it does not lend itself to an easy poetics, the militarization of the seas is overlooked and underrepresented in both scholarship and literature emerging from what is increasingly called the blue or oceanic humanities. This essay turns to the relationship between global climate change and the US military, particularly the Navy, and examines Indigenous challenges to the militarism of the Pacific in the poetry of Craig Santos Perez.

<p>Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries and has been so for over 40 years. It is currently ranked by the IMF as the tenth poorest country with a per capita GDP of $505. In recent years it has been ravaged by civil war (1991-2002) and paralysed by the Ebola virus. Yet it is a country rich in mineral resources – in particular diamonds, thus an economy highly dependent upon geoscientific knowledge. Sierra Leone therefore serves as an illustration of other African countries also rich in mineral resources. At The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge we are engaged in research into the relationship between Science, Faith and Human flourishing. However, in Sierra Leone the application of geoscientific knowledge is not leading to human flourishing. In fact the reverse is true. Maconachie, writing in 2012, states that ‘today, some of the worst poverty in Sierra Leone is concentrated in diamond mining towns’. In this particular context therefore the application of geoscience prevents human flourishing, a topic discussed elsewhere as the ‘resource curse’. It is suggested that an appropriate solution can be found in the concept of a ‘preferential option for the poor’ rooted in a Christian understanding of God’s priority for the poor.</p><p>Diamonds have been mined in Sierra Leone since the 1930’s and in 2016 it was Africa’s seventh largest diamond producer and diamond exports made the largest contribution to the GDP. Much of the mining is alluvial and the deposits, distributed over several thousand km<sup>2</sup>, are impossible to police. This has led to widespread illegal artisanal mining, extreme social exploitation through patronage, diamond smuggling, the funding and prolonging of a civil war. Further, legally exported diamonds yield a very low return to the local economy and there is a lack of economic transparency.</p><p>The fact that mining was not included in the UN 1992 Agenda 21, the Agenda for Sustainable Development means that the minerals industry globally is controlled almost entirely by the ‘free play of a market that is interested primarily in profits’. Recent models of sustainable development challenge this view and now see people as a part of the total ecosystem, so success is measured in terms of its long term contribution to human flourishing and will be expressed in respectful and authentic relationships at a local level between a mine and its community.</p><p>At a governmental level Sierra Leone is seeking to adopt the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative requiring greater corporate and social responsibility on the part of mining companies. This initiative, which has received a renewed emphasis under President Bio, is designed to ensure that the ‘natural resource wealth becomes an engine for sustainable economic growth and poverty eradication in Sierra Leone’. However, it is unclear whether a governmental initiative can generate suitable authentic relationships at a local level. It is suggested here that locally based faith communities, where natural networks already exist, can play a better role in generating long-term authentic relationships between mine and community to foster human flourishing.</p>

While the importance of strategy to an organisation's competitiveness is gaining wide interest within the maritime industry, very little industry-based research has been conducted on the subject. Of what is available, most research focuses on Northern Europe and Northern America, with scant regard for the Asia-Pacific, which has become a major shipping power in recent decades. To address these gaps in the literature, a three-year study focusing on strategic choices by Asia-Pacific shipowners has been conducted. The study analyses the strategic choices made by Asia-Pacific shipowners at the corporate level and develops a conceptual model of corporate strategy selection for Asia-Pacific shipping. Data are collected through a mail survey, interviews and computer simulation. Results show a high degree of congruence with two primary findings emerging: there is strong support for the set of assumptions on corporate strategic choices, but the assumptions have to be modified to reflect a general tendency among Asia-Pacific shipowners to combine different strategies for greater strategic control.

Utilisation of multiple current and legacy datasets to create a national minerals inventory: A UK case study

Seaborne trade is an important component of world trade by which, Indonesia’s water becomes very important and vital in contributing to the world economy. Notwithstanding the strategic meaning of Indonesian water to the World, Indonesian water is still the full responsibility of Indonesia. Indonesia has made substantial and sustained efforts to maintain the safety and security of its sea lanes of communication by updating paper charts, installing navigational aids, broadcasting maritime hazards and weather forecasts, and patrolling certain areas. These efforts show that Indonesia, somewhat, has undertaken its obligations in taking care of the international community interests. Nevertheless, user states and other ships which use chokepoints within Indonesia’ water and derive significant benefits within sometimes do not realize as such. Therefore, this article on the results of normative research aims to explain the need to increase maritime security cooperation as a precondition for achieving the common goals of countries that utilize Indonesian waters and surrounding countries as a route of transportation, trade, cultural exchange, science and civilization.

Gwadar is a deep seaport that played the role of main communication and trade route among India and the Gulf States. In collaboration with China, Gwadar Port has been intended to be connected with Afghanistan and via Afghanistan to Central Asia through road links. If we take the case of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, it is Gwadar Port that allows China to counterbalance the Indo-US supremacy. Beijing now has the ability to counterbalance Indian maritime activities in the Indian Ocean by praising and acknowledging this Port. Gwadar Port's distance from Pakistan's Karachi Port and India's Gujarat and Mumbai naval stations allows China to observe Indo-US naval operations in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Persia Gulf is responsible for over 60% of Beijing's energy supply demands. This phenomenon, in the long run, allows Beijing to monitor and control the sea lanes of communication (SLOCs) from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and up to the Strait of Hormuz.

Indonesian waters are sea lanes of communication for the purposes of seaborne trade, naval movement, and other maritime interests. These waters are of strategic value for maintaining economic security, peace, and stability in the region. Indonesia has the responsibility to address the challenges presented by activities conducted in these waters, such as marine pollution, depletion of marine resources and criminal activities. These challenges are compounded by the fact that there are only a few provisions in the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention which regulate the obligations of ships or user states to share the burden faced by states which possess sea lanes of communication. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the vulnerable condition of Indonesia in light of its obligations to ensure safety of navigation and security. A number of recommendations are made to facilitate the sharing of the burden in maintaining the safety and security of choke points.