sector of South-East Asia -- 4. Maritime developments and opportunities in South-East Asia -- 5. Maritime developments and opportunities for Australia in North-East Asia -- 6. Shipping and port development in East and South-East Asia -- 7. The Asian offshore oil and gas scene: current activities and future opportunities for Australian companies -- 8. Strategic security issues -- 9. The maritime strategic security setting: an operational view -- 10. Developments in regional maritime forces: force structure. Pt. II. Some Australian maritime capabilities of relevance to Asia. 11. Ships and shipping -- 12. Education and vocational training for the maritime industry -- 13. offshore engineering -- 14. Aquaculture and mariculture -- 15. Marine information technology and management -- 16. Maritime legal services. Pt. III. The bridge into Asia. 17. A commercial view -- 18. A defence industrial view -- 19. A marine sciences view -- 20. The naval view -- 21. A view from Asia.

As Australia develops its relations with the Asia-Pacific region, maritime activities deserve particular attention. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most economies of North-East and South-East Asia have grown twice as fast as those elsewhere. Most Asian countries depend upon the sea for food-stuffs, trade and longer term economic prosperity. Many are investing heavily in offshore resource developments, expanding their merchant shipping fleets and placing added emphasis on the maritime capabilities of their military forces. As these countries become more interdependent, maritime issues will become more important. Australia's Maritime Bridge into Asia reveals the great potential for Australia to participate in maritime developments in the Asia-Pacific region. It explains how Australia has a number of comparative advantages over competitors from Europe and North America in exploiting opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. It sets out Australia's successes in maritime fields such as ship design, boatbuilding, exploration of offshore oil and gas, information technology, and particular areas of marine science. It shows how Australia is thus well placed to take advantage of the opportunities opening up in 'new' areas such as innovative ship construction, aquaculture, mariculture, marine biotechnology and systems design and software. The extensive maritime interests Australia shares with Asia, and its skills and expertise, provide a building block for regional co-operation; a means whereby Australia can better participate in the development of the dynamic region to our north - in short, a maritime bridge into Asia.