Session: Changing Security Architecture in Asia
Date/Time: May 14, 2024 / 10:10-11:30

Rapporteur:
Damin Jung, Korea National Defense University

Moderator:
Sohn Jie-ae, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROK

Speakers:
Michael Green, University of Sydney
Jia Qingguo, Peking University
Kim Sung-han, Korea University
Nakabayashi Mieko, Waseda University
James Steinberg, Johns Hopkins University
Sugiyama Shinsuke, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan

Session Sketch:

Plenary Session 1, “Changing Security Architecture in Asia,” discussed the changing Asian security climate and challenges faced by regional players. Professor Michael Green, Professor and Chief Executive Officer at the United States Studies Center of the University of Sydney, noted that there is a growing and intensifying security collaboration in the form of plurilateralism such as AUKUS or the Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral mechanism. Professor Green said the fate of minilateralism and the question of an Asian version of NATO depends on the choices of leaders of China and the United States as their allies are poised to vote for a successful strategy.

Professor Jia Qingguo, Professor and Former Dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University, provided his observation of changes in the regional security landscape and China’s changed position in it amid the intensifying U.S.-China rivalry. Professor Jia said China no longer supports the U.S.-led security initiatives against the North Korean nuclear threat as it did in the past, as the United States tend to imagine and fear the worst scenario. Professor Jia said this intensified rivalry between the United States and China is not good for either country and expressed his frustration that China’s good-wills are not reciprocated by the Presidenet Biden.

Professor Kim Sung-han, Professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) of Korea University, noted that the recent development of minilateral groupings in the region, such as the CJK(China, Japan, Korea), the Quad, or the AUKUS, emerged in response to the strategic competition between the United States and China. Professor Kim noted that multilateral institutions should coexist as well as bilateral and minilateral arrangements in order to create synergy effects. He concluded that, “With such synergy effect, “We would be able to come up with the concrete plan for freedom, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Professor Nakabayashi Mieko, Professor at the Center for International Education of Waseda University, observed the overall increase in defence spending as the chaning international security environment of growing defense spending increase, which recorded the highest in the history. Professor Nakabayashi said communicating with other members of different groups is a key to resolving the escalating conflicts in different regions. She proposed to use the term “collective deterrence” instead of “collective security,” emphasizing the importance of communication with other counterparts including China.

Professor James Steinberg, Dean of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, noted the United States’ complicated position as a world power with a substantial presence in different regions including Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. “We don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing in these things and that desire for simplicity isn’t going to be achieved,” Professor Steinberg said.He said that even though there has always been uncertainty as to how far the U.S. should interfere in different regions it should make a decision of derisking.

Mr. Sugiyama Shinsuke, former Japanese ambassador to the United States, made two points as to how the regional players could bring peace and prosperity in the region. He emphasized the upgraded cooperation between the U.S. and Japan does not mean to be a policy of confrontation, but rather a policy of engagement with China. Ambassador Sugiyama also noted the importance of economic cooperation based on legalities of mutual prosperity.
 
* The views expressed herein are summaries written by rapporteurs and may not necessarily reflect the views of the speakers, their affiliated institutions, or the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.