Maritime security will remain a topic of paramount importance to the region. Southeast Asia is a critical maritime region for commerce and resources, and its waters are one of the world’s most important sea lines of communication. $5.3 trillion of global trade transits through Southeast Asian waters each year, and of this amount, $1.2 trillion represents trade with the United States. Sixty percent of Southeast Asian populations today live in or rely economically on the region’s maritime zones. But the seas of Southeast Asia are also a source of tensions that not only threaten the prosperity of local populations, but also place the security of states at risk. These include territorial disputes, piracy, non-state political violence, transnational crime, and environmental degradation. The significance of maritime boundaries in current international relations has become increasingly complex with the expansion of national limits of maritime jurisdiction over the past 50 years. In December, Vietnam issued a statement to complement the Philippines’ submission to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PAC) in The Hague challenging the legality of China’s claims in the South China Sea. In 2015, the PAC will determine if it has jurisdiction to rule on the case. China has said it will not partake in the proceedings and rejects the claims made by the Philippines and Vietnam. If this were to happen, how can arbitration be used in other cases to peacefully resolve disputes, be they be in Asia or elsewhere, if one side elects not to participate in the process? Moreover, how will territorial disputes impact ASEAN unity? As one Southeast Asian official recently told me, “ASEAN may become a community, but we will not have one voice.”