Asian Concepts of Comprehensive Security and Their Implications for Europe
By Kurt Radtke
Raymond Feddema (University of Amsterdam) and Kurt Werner Radtke (Leiden University) organized a conference on 'Asian Concepts of Comprehensive Security and Their Implications for Europe' which was held from 23 to 25 January at the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development ('International Productivity Center', Shonan kokusai-mura, Hayama-cho, Miura-gun, Kanagawa-ken, 240-01). This conference coincided with a conference on 'Regional New Order in the Asia Pacific - Past, Present, and Future' organized by Akio Igarashi (Rikkyo University) held at the same venue, and the conference schedule was adjusted to allow participants to attend sessions of both conferences.All participants had completed their written papers before the start of the conference. The conference(s) became a meeting ground for scholars from numerous countries and regions in Asia, Europe, and the United States, in which individual scholars discussed concepts of security and regional order in an academic and co-operative spirit, taking care not to engage in unproductive exchanges along the lines 'we Europeans – you Asians'. There was a general recognition that concepts of order and security should and could not be imposed by any single power, and that order and security required the conceptualization of societies beyond their purely military, political, and economic aspects to include culture and environmental concerns. Most participants agreed that differences in culture and ideology between individuals as well as societies as a whole need not stand in the way of co-operation to maintain and strengthen concepts of regional order and security. It was pointed out that some countries preferred national concepts of security, while others opted for a multilateral approach. The legacy of the 'Cold War' has different meanings for different countries and continents, and the development of new approaches must take this into account. These would include the building of new institutions designed to enhance transparency, not only in military matters, but also to increase transparency in international currency markets with their formidable impact on the security and individual lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The organizers of both conferences agreed to act as editors of a book on the theme of our conferences, which will include contributions from participants in the conference, and which will be published by Royal Brill Publishers, Leiden.
This briefer overview cannot replace a summary of the discussions. The following list of papers submitted to the conference on Comprehensive Security provides a good idea of the themes discussed:
Introduction Kurt Radtke (Leiden University) 'Comprehensive security = stability without hegemony (?)'; Raymond Feddema (University of Amsterdam) 'Why Regionalization of Security Perceptions?'; Session 1: Theoretical Issues and 'Comprehensive Security': C. Homan (Netherlands Defense College) 'European Views on Comprehensive Security'; Manfred Pohl (Hamburg University) 'Farewell to a Model - German Experiences with Unification and Korean Disillusion: From Euphoria to Securing the Status quo?'; Michael Schiltz (Catholic University, Leuven), '2nd Order Cybernetics and Comprehensive Security: Contributions from Contemporary Systems Theory'; Seok-Soo Lee, 'Historical Evolution of Comprehensive Security in South Korea'; Session 2Theoretical Issues and 'Comprehensive Security': Wang Xiaodong (Beijing, editorial board 'Strategy and Management')'Sino-US Relations in 1997'; Lee Jong Won, 'Order in the Asian Pacific Area observed in regional international relations'; Hahnkyu Park, 'Regional Nuclear Energy Cooperation in East Asia; A Korean Perspective';Session 3 Regional Economic Stability and Issues of 'Comprehensive Security': R. Busser (Leiden University), 'The Impact of Japanese Direct Investments on Regional Stability; Riuhei Hasse (Kobe University), 'Modernization and Human Security in East Asia'; Session 4 Regional Economic Stability: Akiyama Takuo (Long Term Credit Bank, Tokyo), 'Emerging Financial Markets'; Session 5 Specific Issues of Comprehensive Security: K. Hama (Soka University, Tokyo), 'The Shift in China's energy strategy and the question of Security'; Raymond Feddema (University of Amsterdam) 'The Southeast Asian Approach Towards the South China Sea: Conflict from a Comprehensive Security Perspective'; Nguyen Vu Tung (The Institute for International Relations, Hanoi) , 'Vietnamese Views on Security in (Southeast)Asia'; George W. Tsai (Chengchi University, Taipeh), 'Sino-American Relations after The Summit: Its Security Implications'; Session 7 Specific Issues of Comprehensive Security: Kim Dalchoong, 'Maritime Security Issue in East Asia in the 1990s'; Duong Quoc Thanh, 'Vietnamese Security Perceptions with regard to the South China Sea Conflict'; R. Drifte, 'Regional Order in the Asia Pacific and UN Reforms.'; F. Umbach (Research Institute of the German Society for Foreign Affairs), 'Nuclear proliferation - Challenges in East Asia'; Session 8 Regional Economic Stability: Radha Sinha (Sophia University, Tokyo) , 'The Chinese Economic Development and Security Interests: Implications for Europe'; Kurt W. Radtke (Leiden University) , 'Mutually Assured Insecurity'; M. Wiesebron (Leiden University), 'Transformation in Latin America. Integration and Reforms. Mercosul and Nafta - Recipes for stability?' Hu Angang (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor, Tsinghua University), 'Chinese Energy Strategy for the 21st Century: Production, Consumption, Trade and Security'.
We should like to express our particular thanks to Prof. Dr Akio Igarashi (Network Pacific Asia, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan) who provided invaluable academic and logistic support before and during the conference, together with Mrs. Shibuya (Rikkyo University), Prof. Moon Chung-in (The East-West Centre, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea), and last, but not least Mrs. N. Karthaus-Tanaka (Leiden University) for her unceasing administrative support.
The holding of the conference would have been impossible without the generous support of our sponsors, The Asia Committee of the European Science Foundation, The International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden), the Research School CNWS of the Faculty of Arts, Leiden University, and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Tokyo, for which we should like to express our deep gratitude on behalf of all participants in this conference.