Global Asia - Spring 2018

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As the current issue was about to go to press, Trump stunned the world by instantly accepting an invitation to meet Kim delivered on March 8 by a high-level delegation of South Korean officials. That meeting is currently set for May. As improbable as it seemed only a few months ago, there is now hope, however cautious and guarded, that this could begin a path to denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula, potentially removing one of Northeast Asia’s greatest threats to stability. But it is a long shot, and the path is likely to be strewn with many obstacles.
Moreover, the Korean Peninsula is only one of many potential points of conflict in Asia. Maritime and territorial disputes litter the region and divide countries large and small, some fueled by lingering historical grievances: Taiwan remains divided from mainland China, with the prospect of forced reunification still on the table; India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, remain mired in mutual distrust; and a rising China, led by a president who on March 11 — in another momentous recent surprise — received constitutional authority to remain in power indefinitely, is showing an increasing willingness to assert its growing power throughout the region, putting it on a path of potential conflict with the US in Asia.
In our cover package, we examine how these multiple security concerns underpin a region-wide push to modernize militaries to prepare for possible contingencies and lay the groundwork for an arms race in Asia. Under the guest editorship of Peter Hayes, a member of our Editorial Board, we examine what is taking place around the region to enhance military capabilities, and the strategic rationale of the governments concerned. To be sure, military modernization can be an instrument to ensure stability and avoid conflict in a troubled world, but it can also be a wellspring of tension and conflict if threat perceptions arising from those efforts aren’t properly managed.

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.