| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Northeast Asia's regional cooperation is abysmal. Although China, South Korea, and
Japan have generally compartmentalized bilateral trade relations in order to ensure
continuing prosperity of their respective economies, regionally institutionalized
cooperation remains weak, even in this domain. Trilateral political and security
cooperation among these states is virtually nonexistent. China's disinclination (as
an emerging regional hegemon) toward regional cooperation and Japan's failure
to settle its historical problems are regarded as the key reasons for the lack of
such a development. Yet despite this fraught situation the prospects for regional
cooperation among the three main Northeast Asian powers have seen glimmers of
hope. This paper argues that security is surprisingly one of the areas where scholars
and practitioners envision a foundation for increased opportunities for regional
cooperation. The most noteworthy case is the ongoing coordination among
China, Japan, and South Korea (along with some others) to fight piracy in the
Gulf of Aden area. Beyond the result of reducing piracy on commercial shipping,
the counter-piracy effort has fostered cultural exchange among the region's different
navies and coastguards, offering opportunities for growing the spectrum of maritime
security expertise beyond what each country would be able to do alone. This
paper looks at the implications of this combined effort for other potential areas of
cooperation among the Northeast Asian states
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