Risks are growing that China-centric maritime incidents could lead to war in Asia.

Authors Rory Medcalf and Raoul Heinrichs, with maritime adviser Justin Jones, examine the drivers of Asia’s growing maritime ‘crisis of confidence’, including clashes of sovereignty, national pride and military strategy.

They examine the prospects for confidence-building measures to reduce those dangers, and conclude with a modest and realistic set of recommendations to avert conflict at sea, both in East Asian waters and across the wider Indo-Pacific region.

This report is produced as part of the the Lowy Institute’s MacArthur Foundation Asia Security Project.