Japan Ministry of Defense/ Japan Self-Defense Forces (JMOD/JSDF), along with Ministry of Defence of Indonesia co-hosted the Maritime Cooperation and Connectivity Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia from 2nd to 5th December, 2024. The Conference was convened for the first time, in light of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting’s decision in November, 2023 to implement the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) from a defence perspective. Air Marshal (Ret.) Donny Ermawan, Vice Minister of Defence of Indonesia, delivered the keynote speech, and the Conference was co-chaired by Major General Ujang Darwis, Director General of Defence Strategy, Ministry of Defence of Indonesia and Mr. Arima Takanori, Director General of International Affairs, Bureau of Defense Policy, JMOD.
The Conference was attended by the countries and organizations including ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus countries, Timor-Leste, the Pacific Island countries, and European and North American countries. The participants engaged in lively discussions concerning common maritime security challenges and efforts that contribute to enhancing connectivity, including joint trainings and capacity building.
Moreover, the participants shared the understanding on the transboundary challenges such as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and climate change, importance of the safe sea lines of communication, and heightened tensions at sea. In order to address these challenges, the participants further exchanged views on improving the situational awareness through mutual understanding and exchange of experiences and knowledge, cooperation based on the capacity of each country and mutual respect, as well as effective and efficient cooperation such as joint trainings and capacity building utilizing exiting cooperative frameworks. Furthermore, the participants shared the understanding of the importance of people-to-people exchanges as well as respect for international law and peaceful resolution of disputes.
The Conference contributed to materializing the fourth pillar of the “Japan-ASEAN Ministerial Initiative for Enhanced Defense Cooperation: JASMINE,” to support defense cooperation between ASEAN, Japan, and the Pacific Island countries, as presented by then-Defense Minister Kihara in the 8th ASEAN-Japan Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting in November, 2023, as well as the third point of the three proposed principles presented also by then-Defense Minister Kihara in the 2nd Japan Pacific Islands Defense Dialogue (JPIDD) in March, 2024, namely supporting collaboration between the Pacific Island Countries, Japan and ASEAN.
Going forward, JMOD/JSDF will continue to actively contribute to the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” through enhancing cooperation with other countries through ASEAN-led mechanisms, while strongly supporting ASEAN centrality and unity.
