Valdai Club

The end of the Cold War did not bring the much-awaited peace in the world. Conflicts are erupting all over the world, and Asia is no exception. The region sees rising tensions and aggravating territorial spats. The second session of the Valdai Conference in Jakarta was organized to analyze the core of conflicts and existing security risks in the Asian region and potential solutions.

The Asian region is a specific world with many civilizations which developed independently. Global trends are encouraging countries to connect and interact, shifting focus from solely domestic challenges to international matters. Economy has become the main factor binding the countries together and bolstering rapid social changes. The economic breakthrough brings Asia to the center of the world arena.

But the rapid development in Northeast Asia is not accompanied by strong regional security. Tensions around the East China Sea, South China Sea, Korean Peninsula, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen suggest that close economic ties do not guarantee peace. Economic interests have to be sacrificed in favor of political ones. For instance, the USSR was Germany's top economic partner but that fact did not stop the two countries from fighting each other in the world's biggest war.

One of the most intimidating challenges in the region is terrorism. The participants of the conference pointed out that the phenomenon of terrorism was directly bound to economic performance. Radicalism is often on the rise when states are in decline, as the history of ISIS demonstrates. Therefore, economy plays a crucial role in combating terrorism.

Nationalism is another problem causing certain instability into the region, especially in Japan, China and former Western colonies. It is a result of territorial conflicts, geopolitical uncertainty and historical humiliation.

In any case combating terrorism and nationalism alone is not an option. Countries of the Asian region should unite their efforts and seek assistance of China, US and Russia. But the support of the superpowers should not be meddling and aimed to impose new rules of the game. According to the experts, ASEAN is a great start for collaboration in security issues.

Efficient cooperation in security requires confidence building measures. To gain trust, countries should start with solving matters. Asia lacks its own security architecture like NATO in Europe to guarantee confidence. To fill that gap, countries may consider drafting a comprehensive Pan-Asian treaty that would regulate basic security and cooperation issues in Asia and the Pacific. Tensions between China and Japan over the East China Sea require a legal mechanism. A legal system that would help them resolve the conflict would make security in the region more predictable.

As for Russia, its "pivot to the East" is not a momentary move, the turn will take years to accomplish. As to the territorial disputes in East Asia, Russia's position is rather tricky. Russia develops relations with all states, but territorial conflicts often start between its partners, who wait for Moscow to take a side.
The approach of Russia, as well as China, to promote a democratic system in regional relations is increasingly at odds with the rigid structural approach of the US policy. The TPP is another manifestation of such an approach and threatens to break Asia into several big clusters, as indicated by new proposals within ASEAN.

Asian states welcome Russia's turn to East. However, such a move should not be focused on China alone, ties should be developed with all countries of Northeast Asia as a gateway to the rest of Asia and the Pacific.