Whereas most discussions of history have centered on the rift between China and Japan, this book focuses on three other divisions stemming from deep-seated memories within Northern Asia, which increasingly will test U.S. diplomacy and academic analysis. The first division involves long-suppressed Japanese and South Korean memories that are critical of U.S. behavior – concerning issues such as the atomic bombings, the Tokyo Tribunal, and the Korean War. The second division is the enduring disagreement between Japan and South Korea over history. What can the United States do to invigorate urgently needed trilateral ties? The third and most important division is the revival of a sinocentric worldview, which foretells a struggle between China and other countries concerning history, one that has already begun in China's dispute with South Korea and is likely to implicate the United States above all.

This book explores the rising importance of history in reshaping international relations in Northeast Asia.

Defining and conceptualizing Northeast Asia’s security complex poses unique quandaries. The security architecture in Northeast Asia to date has been predominately U.S.-dominated bilateral alliances, weak institutional structures and the current Six Party Talks dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. There has been a distinct lack of desire among regional countries as well as the U.S. to follow in the footsteps of Europe with its robust set of multilateral institutions. However, since the late 1990s, there has been burgeoning interest among regional states towards forming new multilateral institutions as well as reforming and revitalizing existing mechanisms. Much of this effort has been in the economic and political arenas, with the creation of bodies such as the East Asian Summit, but there have also been important initiatives in the security sphere. This book offers detailed examinations about how this potentially tense region of the world is redefining certain longstanding national interests, and shows how this shift is the result of changing power relations, the desire to protect hard-won economic gains, as well as growing trust in new processes designed to foster regional cooperation over regional conflict. Presenting new and timely research on topics that are vital to the security future of one of the world’s most important geographical regions, this book will be of great value to students and scholars of Asian politics, regionalism, international politics and security studies.

With featuring far-reaching diversities and disparities among the regional states in their political, economic and social systems and cultural and religious orientations, East Asia is a microcosm of international society at large. Nevertheless, there are unique dynamics unfolding in East Asia at the turn of the twenty-first century, namely the rise of China as a contender for regional and global hegemony and a set of collective initiatives to integrate the region into a harmonious community. This book provides new arguments on China’s rise and the transformation of East Asia and analyzes the foreign policy behavior of the regional states and relations among them. In doing so, the contributors show why and how China is rising, and how China’s rise shapes the emerging regional structures and institutions in East Asia. Furthermore, given the East Asian context where the world’s second and third largest economies coexist with much smaller states and with China’s ascendency likely to continue, this book challenges the pervasive dichotomy of hegemony and community. This allows for a fuller and more nuanced account of China’s role and the shifting regional policies in East Asia in which hegemonic cooperation does not necessarily lead to a hegemonic form of regional order. Presenting strategic, political, economic and historical perspectives on China’s changing role in the region and the development of regionalism, China’s Rise and Regional Integration in East Asia will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics, Asian politics, international relations and regionalism.

Sustainable Peace in Northeast Asia examines the causes of lasting and complex tensions in the region from underlying political, historical, military and economic perspectives; discusses their historical development and political-economic implications for the world; and explores possible solutions to build lasting peace. The book is unique in that it approaches the topic from the historical perspective of each constituent country in the region. Major global powers such as the United States and Russia have also closely engaged in the political and economic affairs of this region through a network of alliances, diplomacy, trade and investment. The book also discusses the influence of these external powers over the crisis, their political and economic objectives in the region, their strategies and the dynamics that their engagement has created. Both South Korea and North Korea have sought reunification of the Korean peninsula, which will have a substantial impact on the region. The book examines its justification, feasibility and effects for the region. The book discusses the role of Mongolia in the context of the power dynamics in Northeast Asia. A relatively small country, in terms of its population, Mongolia has rarely been examined in this context; Sustainable Peace in Northeast Asia makes a fresh assessment of its potential role.

The second of Gilbert Rozman's contributed volumes on East Asian national identity traces how efforts to draw a sharp divide between one country's identity and that of another shape relations in the post-Cold War era. It examines the two-way relations of Japan, South Korea, and China, introducing the concept of a national identity gap to estimate the degree to which the identities of two countries target each other as negative contrasts. This concept is then applied to China's reinterpretation from 2009-11 of the gap between its identity and that of the United States. Each pairing represents a key relationship through which an Asian country has historically shaped its identity, and is striving to reshape it. The volume begins with experts' analyses of how Japan, South Korea and China have changed their diplomatic environment in Asia in order to transform identity. In the second half of the book, Rozman reflects on the discomfort all three East Asian countries have from excessive dependence on the United States. He concentrates on Chinese discourse in particular, as analyzed through the ideological, temporal, sectoral, vertical, and horizontal dimensions of national identity. Even if foreign policy turns more cautionary for a time, Rozman argues that China's inflammatory identity discourse, which remains at an intensity unmatched in the other countries, will continue to have a chilling effect on prospects for pragmatic diplomacy with the U.S.

To convey the image of a responsible power willing to contribute to regional stability and cooperation, China has shifted from a single-minded preference for bilateralism to an active participation in East Asian regionalism in the recent decades. This development has inspired discussions over whether a rising China could play a leadership role in building an institutionalized architecture for regional cooperation in East Asia. Nevertheless, this has not happened as East Asian regional cooperation and relevant activities remain mostly ad hoc and informal, especially when compared to regions such as Europe. To what extent has China contributed or constrained the development of regionalism in East Asia? What are China’s desired roles and objectives in East Asian regional cooperation? What is the level of trust that other regional players have for China in regional cooperation? This book seeks answers to these questions by exploring China’s motivations and strategic calculations as well as its policy practices in East Asian economic and security cooperation. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary China.