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A number of concerns are pushing Asia-Pacific navies to modernise and,
where possible, expand fleets. Chiefly amongst these concerns is the
People’s Republic of China's (PRC) increasing military assertiveness.
by Dr. Alix Valenti
Naval Directory 2017
o
ver the past year, the PRC has continued to increase its aggressive
stance in the South and East China Seas, where it has several
maritime and territorial claims centred on the Spratly and
Paracel archipelagos, and the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)
of Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) respectively. The PRC
has also continued to build and commission a large number of increasingly
powerful surface combatants, whose number and capabilities are uncertain
given conflicting information from different sources. Witness the commission
of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Yinchuan ‘Type-05D/Luyang-III’ class
destroyer and Binzhou ‘Type-054A/Jiangkai-II’ class frigate respectively in 2016.
These developments have therefore contributed to increasing concerns from
the countries that continue to maintain ongoing disputes with the PRC in the
region, chiefly Brunei-Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of
China and Vietnam in the South China Sea, and Japan and the ROK in the East
China Sea, all of whom have been modernising their navies despite, at times,
suffering from significantly constrained procurement budgets; Malaysia’s
defence budget, local reports suggest, is expected to fall this year, compared to
its defence budget for 2016.
US allies in the Asia-Pacific, such as Australia, have also been modernising
their navy in order to have a fleet capable of maintaining, and perhaps enforcing,
peace in the region. Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper, which outlines the
country’s defence spending and strategic priorities, indicates that the country
may not be suffering any direct threats to its security but the country has major
stakes in the peaceful resolution of differences across the region.
Continued reports of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
increasing its sea power capabilities, for example, the Korean People’s
Navy is thought to have at least one ‘Sinpo’ class conventional hunter-
killer submarine under construction as of 2014, are causing neighbouring
countries, chiefly amongst those the ROK, to modernise their navies in order
to be able to counter potential attacks from the DPRK. This is especially in
view of the continued difficulty in finding accurate sources of information
regarding naval developments in the DPRK, which arguably forces nations
such as the ROK to ensure that it continues to have the most modern naval
capabilities possible.
Finally, the Asia-Pacific region remains significantly prone to maritime
piracy (particularly around Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines) as well as
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. In a region where 84 percent
of the global population engaged in the fisheries and acquaculture sectors
resides, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) report The State of World Fisheries and Acquaculture published in 2016,
this is a significant concern: as an increasing number of livelihoods are
threatened through IUU depleting fish stocks, so the risk of insecurity in the
region rises.
As the region's naval orders of battle continue to evolve, Asia-Pacific
shipbuilding, maintenance and repair companies are expanding their
portfolios with hefty workloads to build and modernise the region's naval
vessels. Like all AMR directories, the Naval Directory has been compiled
with insights from government and industry experts, and open sources. We
encourage readers to contact us with any information they may have that may
help the directory become yet more informative and accurate.Wikimedia CommonsThe RAN selected Navantia
for the construction of the two
future replenishment vessels due
to replace the ‘Durance’ and
‘Sirius’ classes. The two ships are
currently under construction and
are scheduled for delivery in mid-
2019 and May 2020.