Reinforcing Cooperation to Achieve a Secure and Stable Maritime Domain

On September 24, Secretary Rubio co-hosted a ministerial meeting on “Reinforcing Cooperation to Achieve a Secure and Stable Maritime Domain,” alongside his counterparts from Australia, Estonia, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Romania, and the UK, among others.

The meeting convened over 35 countries to discuss maritime security issues of shared concern, including upholding the freedoms of navigation and overflight as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, safeguarding shared maritime interests, and greater cooperation on combatting common maritime threats.

The Secretary raised the importance of collective efforts to advance a free and open South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in global trade flow annually. The Secretary further highlighted China’s expansive and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea and the destabilizing ways it attempts to enforce them.

Participants also discussed a range of maritime security threats that put shipping lanes and critical undersea infrastructure at risk.

Secretary Rubio encouraged close coordination among countries to reinforce the freedoms of navigation and overflight and free flow of commerce globally. The ministerial demonstrates the growing diplomatic coalition of countries which share the United States’ interest in strengthening maritime security and preserving vital high seas freedoms from which all nations benefit.

As such, the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce $55 million in new funding for enhancing maritime law enforcement capacity of countries in the Indo-Pacific, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Pacific Islands, and maritime South Asian nations. This funding will enable these partners to counter illicit maritime activities, exercise their sovereign rights, and interdict illicit fishing and maritime trafficking operations.

The United States has contributed over $1.5 billion in maritime security assistance to the Indo-Pacific since 2017. See the U.S. Commitment to Maritime Security Fact Sheet for a more detailed summary of this assistance.