Join the Mansfield Foundation at Keio University in Tokyo for a public symposium on maritime domain awareness in the South China Sea on Thursday, October 20 from 2:30 – 4:30pm.
As the South China Sea continues to grow in importance as a major thoroughfare for trade, freedom of navigation operations, and military reconnaissance, the importance of establishing effective maritime domain awareness (MDA)—a nation’s understanding of any maritime activities that impact its security, safety, environment, or economy—also grows. Simultaneously, bad actors seeking to evade detection are aided by the high traffic through this region and the sheer size of its waters. Effective MDA in the South China Sea must therefore integrate spatial tools like small satellites and big data analysis to collect and parse sufficient information to inform the actions of law enforcement agencies.
This event will convene experts in geopolitics, maritime security, and space technologies to address the policy questions stemming from these realities. These individuals hail from a specialized working group brought together by the Mansfield Foundation from across the United States, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, who will be sharing policy recommendations for improving MDA in the South China Sea. Panel 1 will focus on the background against which their policy recommendations were conceived, while Panel 2 outlines the recommendations and next steps for all five participant nations.