The antecedents of the Group lie in a conference held in Taipei in 1979. The purpose of that conference was to promote understanding and cooperation among the nations of northeast Asia—and scholars from Taipei, Japan, South Korea and the United States attended. A paper presented by Vice Admiral Kenichi Kitamura (JMSDF) stressed the importance of cooperation in protecting the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) in the Western Pacific, and there developed a consensus among the leaders of the delegations attending that there should be future conferences to pursue the important issue of preserving security of the SLOCs.

The subject of SLOC defense came up again at a four nation parliamentary conference on Asian and Western Pacific security, held in Washington DC in January 1980; at this conference, Dr Han Lih-wu from Taipei repeated his earlier proposal to have SLOC study groups formed in each of the four nations. The other senior delegates: the Hon. Shin Kanemaru of Japan, the Hon Min Kwan Shik of South Korea, and Ambassador U Alexis Johnson and General Richard G Stilwell of the United States, enthusiastically agreed; with Shik committing the Asian Institute of Public Policy in Seoul and Kanemaru committing the Center for Strategic Studies in Tokyo to the project.

Discussions and plans began in late 1980 and early 1981 to host an international SLOC conference in 1981, preferably in the United States; the conference was held in San Francisco in September 1982. At the conclusion of the inaugural conference, the Japanese delegates agreed to hold the second conference in Tokyo in 1983. For the 1983 conference, Japan proposed that participation be expanded from the original four nations to include Australia and the countries of Southeast Asia (and from ASEAN, representatives from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand attended). Subsequent conferences were held in Singapore (1985), Taipei (1986), Seoul (1987), and Melbourne (1988). At the Singapore conference, there were attendees for the first time from New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. At the Taipei conference, nations represented included Jordan, Palau and Saudi Arabia, and at the Seoul conference, a representative from India attended. Canada attended regularly and a representative from the United Kingdom occasionally. China was invited to attend several conferences but did not accept. Conferences were held on a roughly biennial basis in various locations throughout the Asia-Pacific region: San Francisco (1982), Tokyo (1983), Singapore (1985), Taipei (1986), Seoul (1987), Melbourne (1988), Washington (1990), Bali (1993), Kuala Lumpur (1994), Taipei (1996), Tokyo (1997), Seoul (1999), Canberra (2001), Honolulu (2004), Taipei (2006), New Delhi (2011), Taipei (2012), and Jakarta (2014). They were typically organized by a research institute or center in the host nation.

Tun-hwa Ko & Yu-ming Shaw (eds), Sea Lane Security in the Pacific Basin, The Asia and World Monograph Series No. 29, The Asia and World Institute, Taipei, 1983

Tun-hwa Ko & Phillip Chen (eds), Sea Lane Security Studies: Some Vital Issues, The Asia and World Monograph Series No. 39, The Asia and World Institute, Taipei, 1986

Lau Teik Soon & Lee Lai To (eds), The Security of the Sea Lanes in the Asia Pacific Region, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1988

Phillip Chen, Tun-hwaKo & Anna Wang (eds), Sea Lanes Security in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, The Asia and World Monograph Series No. 43, The Asia and World Institute, Taipei, 1987

Dalchoong Kim (ed), Resources, Maritime Transport and SLOC Security in the Asia-Pacific Region, Institute of East and West Studies Series No.3, Yonsei University, Seoul, 1988

A selection of selection of papers from the first six conferences were published in Malcolm Kennedy & Michael
O'Connor (eds), Safely by Sea, University Press of America, 1990

Ray Cline & William Carpenter (eds), Secure Passage at Sea, United States Global Strategy Council, Washington, 1990

Conference Papers

Conference Papers

Tun-hwa Ko, Tenth International Conference on the Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOC), The SLOC Studies Group, ROC, Taipei, 1996

Conference Papers

Dalchoong Kim, Seo-Hang Lee & Jin-Hyun Paik (eds), Maritime Security and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific toward the 21st Century, Institute of East and West Studies Series No.46, Yonsei University, Seoul, 2000

Andrew Forbes (ed), The Strategic Importance of Seaborne Trade and Shipping, Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs No. 10, Sea Power Centre - Australia, Canberra, 2003

Conference Papers

Tun-hwa Ko, Sea Lanes for World Peace, SLOC Studies Group, ROC, Taipei, 2006

Conference Program

Conference Papers

Each territory was represented by a lead delegate:

Australia: Dr Lee Cordner

Canada: Dr Jim Boutilier
Indonesia: Dr Connie Rahakudini Bakri

India: Dr Probal Ghosh
Japan: RADM Sumihiko Kawamura (Rtd)
Republic of Korea: Dr Jin-Hyun Paik
Malaysia: Nazery Khalid
New Zealand: Mr Peter Cozens
Republic of the Philippines: Jay Batongbacal
Singapore: Dr Christopher Len
Taiwan: Andrew Nien-dzu Yang
United States: Dr Stan Weeks