As Dr. Lerhe pointed out, the People's Republic of China is the obvious problem. Their repudiation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its dispute resolution mechanisms has really laid bare the very blatant ambitions they have for the South China Sea, I'm afraid, and how they intend to manage their relations with neighbouring states. The difficulty they have in honouring the commitment.... They signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, they ratified it, they thereby agreed to all the processes, definitions, and dispute resolution mechanisms, and now they've simply rejected it.
Sovereign states have that right. They will always act in their own vested interests, but the problem here is that it puts them into obvious conflict with a host of states in the area and calls into question one of the fundamental processes of how our globalized economy functions and that is, sea transport of goods, materials, and services. Ninety percent of global commerce is carried by sea. That part of the world's ocean carries a very large and important part of it and a number of our traditional trading partners.
We're now thinking about going into a Trans-Pacific Partnership that does not include China. China has its own trade partnership and some of our traditional allies, the aforementioned New Zealand and Australia, find themselves in the awkward position of being in both houses. There is a lot of confusion. There's a serious problem here with a very bellicose and aggressive major power in the area and a global interest in the high value of the trade that flows through the area.
I don't take exactly the same view as Dr. Lerhe about the Arctic. The problem in the Arctic is irresponsible ship operators. We're now starting to see more transit passages, Arctic tourism, etc. It's only a matter of time before an accident takes place with perhaps a single ship-operating company pulling cargo through the High Arctic, using a ship in poor material condition and run by a collection of international crew members who are not practised in High Arctic operations. There will be an accident. We don't have the logistical capacity to take effective action in the Arctic. We don't have a proper base of operations in the High Arctic. It's not even mapped to modern standards for the use of seamen and businesses.