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

Visit amti.csis.org

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

Gregory B. Poling

Gregory B. Poling

Senior Fellow and Director, Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
Harrison Prétat

Harrison Prétat

Deputy Director and Fellow, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

All Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Content

Filter by

81 - 90 of 597 results

By Air, Land, and Sea: China’s Maritime Power Projection Network

China’s deployment of radar, missiles, and combat aircraft to its outposts in the South China Sea has greatly expanded its ability to project power in distant waters. See how these capabilities enable Chinese carrier operations in a new map from AMTI.

Commentary — September 17, 2021

Oceans of Opportunity: Southeast Asia’s Shared Maritime Challenges

CSIS held a three-part virtual conference in June 2021 on the maritime challenges facing Southeast Asian states. This white paper discusses urgent human, ecological, food, and climate security issues in the region’s oceans and steps to address these challenges.

Report by Danielle Fallin Gregory B. Poling Amanda Ingram and Simon Tran Hudes — September 10, 2021

North Korea Builds New Docks On The Edge of the Yellow Sea and the Chinese Border

The analysis conducted and conclusions reached in this article are solely those of the author, not of CSIS or the team at AMTI. Commercially available satellite imagery shows that North Korea has constructed three new piers at the estuary of the Yalu River separating the north-western DPRK from neighboring China. The new docks appear built […]

Commentary — August 26, 2021

The Mediterranean’s Compliance Committee: A Model for the South China Sea?

Negotiations on a code of conduct (COC) for the South China Sea have been stalled since 2019, mainly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and the continuing challenges it presents to the region. However, even after the pandemic situation improves and negotiations can resume as normal, COC negotiators will still have to face many thorny […]

Commentary — August 25, 2021

Britain’s Return to the Indo-Pacific

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s foreword to the Integrated Review of Global Britain’s Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy spoke of HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the two largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy, leading a British and allied task group on the United Kingdom’s most ambitious global deployment for over two decades, visiting […]

Commentary — August 11, 2021

Four Steps to Advance the South China Sea Arbitral Award

Five years after a landmark arbitration ruling, Manila’s actions in the South China Sea leave much to be desired. Clamor to do more has built up ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s sixth and last State of the Nation Address on July 26. This said, despite some unhelpful off-the-cuff remarks, the arbitral award is being officially […]

Commentary — July 26, 2021

China’s Plan for the South China Sea: A Mixture of Pressure and Legal Approaches

Five years after an international arbitration court in the Hague ruled that the majority of China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea had no legal basis or validity, much has changed in the regional environment—but not in a positive way. The tribunal award had been expected to exert global diplomatic pressure on China to […]

Commentary — July 7, 2021

Contest at Kasawari: Another Malaysian Gas Project Faces Pressure

China Coast Guard vessels have been contesting new Malaysian oil and gas development off the coast of Sarawak since early June, just after 16 Chinese military planes patrolled near Malaysia. Remote sensing data reveals an ongoing pressure campaign at sea.

Commentary — July 7, 2021

The Visiting Forces Agreement and the Future of U.S.-Philippine Relations

President Joseph Biden’s victory in last year’s elections was warmly welcomed across Southeast Asia, a vital region at the heart of a brewing new Cold War. Earlier this year, the annual ISEAS Yusof-Ishak Institute survey showed that almost two-thirds of Southeast Asian respondents expressed their preference for the United States over China, a jump in […]

Commentary — June 22, 2021