By Clint Work
Longstanding U.S. commitments to East Asia complicate an already complex region.
Recent events in Northeast Asia have undermined the prospects for regional cooperation in the near term. These include Beijing’s ADIZ pronouncement, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Yasukuni Shrine visit amidst Tokyo’s larger defense reforms, and concerns over Pyongyang’s internal stability or external provocations. Although heightening concerns, these events can be seen as an outgrowth of existing tensions and disagreements in the region. Despite heady claims of a coming regionalism following the end of the Cold War, Northeast Asia remains marked by historical animosities and increasingly divergent security and economic logics. It would appear Gilbert Rozman’s assessment remains as appropriate today as it was ten years ago. In short, Northeast Asia lingers in a state of stunted regionalism, suffocated by the residue of the Cold War.
The din of current events and diplomatic recriminations can make it difficult to understand current trends. Thus, a shift in focus to larger historical and systemic frameworks may help clarify matters. The contention here is that the current state of affairs, of regional tension, is partly the consequence of the incongruity of a Cold War U.S. alliance structure with a post-Cold War Northeast Asia. Paradoxically, the historical success of the alliance structure contributed to the formation of this same post-Cold War regional architecture. While the latter continues to evolve, Seoul and Tokyo’s enduring subordination within the U.S. alliance structure distorts the process thereby exacerbating the divergent economic and security logics noted above.
Read the full 2 page story at The Diplomat