The seas of Southeast Asia are getting safer, after joint naval patrols in the waters of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have successfully deterred piracy in the region.
It all comes down to a Trilateral Cooperation Agreement, or TCA, in which the nations pledged to conduct joint anti-piracy patrols in their waters and share information. The result has been a significant reduction of kidnapping in waters where it was once notorious. Last year, there were zero abductions in their seas.
At the Defence Services Asia trade show in Kuala Lumpur, the defense ministers lauded the zero-abductions statistic as a sign that their anti-piracy efforts are working. The three countries signed the TCA in 2017, at a time when Islamic militants in the Sulu and Sulawesi seas were launching pirate attacks and kidnapping people.
The bloc also agreed to establish maritime command centres to…
