The nearshore seas to shore area is where the action is expected militarily in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific in the future, and the U.S. Marine Corps is trying to get a handle on a growing regional interest in amphibious operations — a task at which it excels.

To that end, Marine Corps Forces Pacific is hosting 23 foreign nations at the inaugural U.S. Pacific Command Amphibious Leaders Symposium May 17 to 21 in Hawaii. Senior military leaders of allied and partner nations are expected to attend.

Growing Indo-Asia-Pacific economics and rising tensions have placed the littorals, where a majority of shipping and commerce operates, at the center of the bullseye for the U.S. military pivot to the Pacific.

“We have thousands and thousands of miles of coastline, thousands and thousands of islands, interposing water between it, and everybody who wants to use that water as maneuver space,” said Brig. Gen. C. J. Mahoney, deputy commander of Marine Corps Forces Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith.

Interest in amphibious operations is about as wide ranging, with some nations wanting small or larger-scale amphibious capabilities for everything from fish poaching to sovereignty issues.

Col. Nathan Nastase, director of plans and policies for Marine Corps Forces Pacific, said it’s the first time so many nations have been brought together in the Pacific to discuss amphibious operations.

“I think there’s a lot of interest,” Nastase said Tuesday. “Certainly not everybody has the same aspirations or capabilities that we have or desire. But what we’re trying to figure out by bringing these folks together is — what is it that you think you need for your particular situation? How can that potentially compliment us or your neighbors or a group of like-minded nations to help each other out in times of crisis, times of humanitarian disaster?”

Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Columbia, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, United Kingdom and Vietnam will be sending representatives, the Marines said.

India, Brazil and East Timor were invited but not able to attend.

China, which is at the center of a number of territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, was not invited due to U.S. policy restrictions, the Marine Corps said.

China has a rivalry with Japan over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, and has engaged in an island-building campaign in the South China Sea using dredged sand to build up coral outcroppings in contested waters, actions that have angered the Philippines.

Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines comprise 30,000 islands that sit astride strategic chokepoints, Euan Graham, a senior fellow with the Maritime Security Programme at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said in Defense News last June.

“Amphibious capabilities in this most maritime of environments means more than mere operational modality: It needs to be grasped as a strategic imperative  and a critical enabler for defense cooperation,” Graham said.

Amphibious forces will feature prominently whether the objective is power projection, territorial defense, stabilization operations, humanitarian assistance or even internal security, Graham added.

The amphibious symposium, with the acronym PALS, will include group briefings and discussions, scenario-based exercises, and observation of an amphibious landing and other aspects of Culebra Koa 15, a joint seabasing exercise taking place in Hawaii.

“At the end of the day, we want to make sure that by bringing all these folks together, that we understand each other a lot better, that we can capitalize on future training and amphibious capability development and basically to pave the way for enhanced regional stability and economic ties,” Nastase said.