Af indholdet: The Security of North-East Asia. Trade, Technology and Security: Implications for East Asia and the West. Prospects for Security Cooperation between East Asia and the West. Comment on Ambassador Okawara's Speech.

A Rising China and Security in East Asia provides a systematic and in-depth analysis of the security discourse of Chinese elites on the major powers in East Asia, namely the US, Japan and Russia, and how China perceives their global security strategy.

The economic growth of East and South-East Asia in the context of the global financial crisis has strengthened the view that this region is emerging in the 21st century as the most economically vibrant region in the world. With some of the largest economies, and generally high economic growth rates compared to the rest of the world, it is unsurprising that East and South-East Asia has become the subject of global interest. East Asia’s rise inevitably focuses attention on the issue of China’s emergence as a regional and global power. Such a prospect challenges the current status quo, in which the region is dominated by the USA and its regional allies, and issues in Sino-US strategic relations have raised global awareness of the need to understand this pivotal region better. In addition, the Taiwan issue continues to evoke nationalist sentiments in China, and North Korea continues to threaten regional stability. Non-traditional (or alternative) security issues are also of major importance in the region, including natural disasters and epidemics, as well as challenges relating to human rights and governance, transnational crime, demographic issues, economics and trade and regionalism. This Handbook aims to offer an insight into these issues. The volume is divided into two main sections. The first, International Relations and Security Perspectives, will focus on the international relations of the region, paying special attention to the key state players. The chapter contributions will examine the security perspectives, and foreign and defence policies of these states, as well as key bilateral relationships. The second section will examine key Regional Non-traditional Security Issues, including globalization, transnational health challenges, population growth and the environment.

East Asia has been relatively free from large-scale conflict in the 1990s, but the absence of security organisations or even of a sense of community within the region has raised doubts about its future security. China and Japan are likely to bear much of the responsibility for maintaining stability, but both countries have been reluctant to adopt a leadership role. South-east Asian states have been willing to take the initiative outside of their sub-region, but they possess neither the resources nor the authority to lead the whole of East Asia. In the long term, the ability to organise the region depends on greater clarity in the identity of leading states in the region, and of the region as a whole. This paper analyses the way in which issues of identity have affected the actions of the key players, and assesses future challenges and possibilities in the search for regional security. It concludes that: Through the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South-east Asian states have developed a sense of confidence and unity. However, ASEAN’s need to safeguard its newly acquired identity means that it has not exported the ‘ASEAN way’ to the wider region of East Asia or the Asia-Pacific. The greater diversity that enlargement will bring and the effects of the crisis since 1997 are likely to make the Association’s defensive instincts still more resistant to change. In the 1990s, Japan has sought to redefine its identity, both in terms of its past and of its post-war values such as pacifism and human rights. This process has compelled Japan to face Asia more squarely, and has increased the country’s self-assurance. As a result, it may become more willing to take the initiative in political and security, as well as economic, areas. For China, nationalism has become more important, just as communism’s position as the country’s unifying ideology has eroded. Beijing has tried to change the status quo in a forceful way. By the close of the 1990s, however, China has become increasingly willing to act as a responsible world power. A key test of this transformation will be Beijing’s treatment of the Taiwan question. The prospects for regional stability depend on Japan’s ability to reform and return to growth. The most pressing task is to revitalise East Asia’s economies. A return to prosperity would encourage China’s reform and opening process; lessen Japan’s introspection; make disagreements between the South-east Asian states less acute; and allow the Asia-Pacific region as a whole to move beyond both the triumphalism of the East Pacific and the resentment of the West.

While, over the last 30 years, the global economy's center of gravity has shifted to East Asia, the region has remained surprisingly free of interstate military conflict. Yet this era of peace and growth has been punctuated by periodic reminders of enduring security problems in the region—from China's military modernization, to unresolved territorial disputes, to persistent tensions on the Korean peninsula. This volume is one of the first to treat these issues of economics and security as interconnected rather than separate. Its authors—leading scholars from the U.S. and China—shed new light on this important nexus by applying insights from a rich variety of approaches to explore and explain the dynamics of a region whose importance for students of both international political economy and international security has grown dramatically. They show that both economic and security 'fundamentals' matter if one is to understand the reasons for, and evaluate the durability of, East Asia's recent peace and prosperity.

From internal oppression in Burma to interstate conflict in the South China Sea, the people of Southeast Asia face a range of threats. This book identifies and explains the security challenges -- both traditional and nontraditional -- confronting the region. Collins addresses the full spectrum of security issues, discussing the impact of ethnic tensions and competing political ideologies, the evolving role of ASEAN, and Southeast Asia's interactions with key external actors (China, Japan, and the United States). The final section of the book explores how the region's security issues are reflected in two current cases: the South China Sea dispute and the war on terrorism.

East Asian Security examines some of the most important strategic questions about the future of East Asia. It includes provocative essays that explore the overall prospects for war, peace, and stability in the region. Other essays focus on the likely strategies that China and Japan will pursue at the dawn of the next millennium. Students, scholars, and analysts of contemporary issues will find East Asian Security to be a stimulating and valuable overview of these questions.