Neighbours Malaysia and Singapore pledged on Tuesday to step up military co-operation in an effort to protect the world's busiest sea lane, the Malacca Strait, from piracy and terror attacks.
In another sign of improving relations, senior ministers from Malaysia and Singapore announced after talks in Kuala Lumpur that they should go further than co-ordinated maritime patrols, which began last week.
"We both agree that positive steps have been taken but we also agree there should be new ways to further improve maritime security, particularly in terms of the safety and security of the Strait of Malacca," Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak told a joint news conference with Singapore's Co-ordinating Minister for Security and Defence, Tony Tan.
Najib said the three littoral states - Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia - were not yet ready to launch joint patrols, where the three Southeast Asian nations police the strait in multi-national groups, but Singapore and Malaysia will look at extending intelligence sharing.
"We have agreed that the two armed forces should discuss this matter," Najib said. Tan said safety of the strait was vital for regional and world security.
"These co-ordinated patrols are a very good start," Tan said.
The narrow strait between Malaysia and Indonesia, with Singapore at its southern entrance, carries more than a quarter of world trade and almost all oil imports to Japan and China.
Piracy has plagued the strait for centuries, but has worsened in recent years and since the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the prospect of terrorist strikes has emerged.
Attacks on vessels in the 805-km (500-mile) channel rose 33 percent between January and June from a year ago, the International Maritime Bureau said on Monday.
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