Issue Absence of a strong multilateral security institution in East Asia

Summary

East Asian states have built close multilateral economic frameworks but have not managed to create a strong multilateral security institution covering the whole region. Forums such as the ASEAN Regional Forum exist but have not grown into bodies able to manage regional security in practice. Southeast Asian states have used ASEAN to coordinate security interests, yet diverging positions amid US-China rivalry are judged to be weakening ASEAN centrality. As rivalry deepens, Washington and Beijing will each try to build minilateral or region-wide institutions that maximize their own security interests. Whether Asian middle powers can cooperate to temper the rivalry, and whether Korea and Japan as democracies can lead in creating an influential multilateral security institution, is presented as a key variable.