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Obsessed? A joint fixation on maritime rules is in Asean’s shared interest
Singapore’s relentless drumbeat on the right of transit passage is the right tune – and all of ASEAN is humming along.
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Under UNCLOS, coastal states bordering international straits are barred from hampering transit passage or discriminating “in form or fact” against vessels of different states, says the writer.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Stripped of context, the Singapore establishment’s recent collective harping on sea rules – in particular, the “right of transit passage” – can seem almost obsessive.
With the war in the Middle East dragging on, and Iran's functional blockade of the Strait of Hormuz now extending to demands for tolls and permission for ships to transit, the Republic has pushed this messaging into overdrive.
