Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
AMTI aims to promote transparency in the Indo-Pacific to dissuade assertive behavior and conflict and generate opportunities for cooperation and confidence building
The maritime environment in East Asia contains both promise and peril. The Indo-Pacific region is host to some of the world’s most important shipping lanes, facilitates huge volumes of regional trade, and boasts abundant natural resources. Competing territorial claims, incidents between neighboring countries, and increasing militarization, however, raise the possibility that an isolated event at sea could become a geopolitical catastrophe. This is all occurring against a backdrop of relative opaqueness. Geography makes it difficult to monitor events as they occur, and there is no public, reliable authority for information on maritime developments.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative seeks to change this. AMTI was conceived of and designed by CSIS. It is an interactive, regularly-updated source for information, analysis, and policy exchange on maritime security issues in Asia. AMTI aims to promote transparency in the Indo-Pacific to dissuade assertive behavior and conflict and generate opportunities for cooperation and confidence building. Because AMTI aims to provide an objective platform for exchange, AMTI and CSIS take no position on territorial or maritime claims.
AMTI Leadership


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Welcome to Pacific Airwaves! – Secretary Blinken goes to Papua New Guinea
Podcast Episode by Karen Lee — May 25, 2023

Perilous Prospects: Tensions Flare at Malaysian, Vietnamese Oil and Gas Fields
Commentary — March 30, 2023
Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security Challenges: An Evolving Tapestry
Commentary — March 28, 2023
Terrorism as an Evolving Threat to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security
Commentary — March 28, 2023
(Almost) Everyone is Drilling Inside the Nine-Dash Line
Commentary — March 8, 2023
Flooding the Zone: China Coast Guard Patrols in 2022
Commentary — January 30, 2023
Ocean Security Forum 2023
Event by Whitley Saumweber , Rod Schoonover , Dr. Kelly Kryc , Dr. Maxine Burkett , and Rear Admiral Jo-Ann F. Burdian — January 18, 2023
Navigation Hazards As an Evolving Threat to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security
Commentary — December 15, 2022
Maritime Refugees as an Evolving Threat to Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security
Commentary — December 15, 2022
Vietnam’s Major Spratly Expansion
Commentary — December 14, 2022