IINA: Bridging Sanctions Gaps: The Enforcement Coordination Cell (ECC) in Yokosuka and Minilateral Maritime Cooperation

By Takuma Matsu, Research Fellow The Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Institutionalized multilateral security frameworks in the Indo-Pacific remain structurally underdeveloped, in contrast to Europe, where a multilayered security architecture exists combining NATO’s collective defense commitments with the OSCE’s role in conflict prevention, crisis management and confidence-building measures. Instead, regional security architecture has historically relied on a hub-and-spoke system centered around the bilateral alliance with the United States. While this bilateral architecture remains vital, it lacks the institutional depth to coordinate multilateral responses to evolving regional threats.