Time:2013/6/18

On December 7-9, 2012, the international conference “Toward a New Equilibrium of Regional Order in Asia-Pacific” was held by Korea University, South Korea in the International Studies Hall of the University. Representing Peking University (PKU) at the conference were Deputy Director Prof. Zhu Feng, Academic Member Prof. Wang Yong, Researcher Dr. Wu Xiangning of CISS, and Associate Profs. Wang Dong and Feng Shaofeng of the School of International Studies (SIS), PKU. PhD students from SIS and research assistants of CISS, Jia Zifang and Ma Yan, attended the student forum of the conference, and followed the whole conference as observers. Approximately thirty notable scholars of international relations from PKU, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, the University of Tokyo, the National University of Singapore and Korea University attended this conference. 

Participants discussed in depth the five topics of the conference: “Challenges Faced by Regional Security,” “Changes in Domestic Politics and Foreign Policies,, “Multilateral Governance and New Security Architecture,” “Financial Crisis and Economic Security,” and “Challenges from Non-Traditional Security Issues.” Scholars generally agreed that, today in East Asia, the core issues of regional security are still the structural conflicts between rising powers and the leading power, the United States, and a universal security dilemma in the region. With non-traditional security issues like economic security and energy security gaining importance, challenges to the security in East Asia are still considerable. Unlike in 2012, the, main polities in East Asia have changed or would soon change their leaders, which could influence their creating and conducting of foreign policies in the following years. The participants pointed out that, as long as the construction of multilateral security institutions cannot satisfy the needs of individual countries for a stable regional order, the challenges of regional security should be faced by cooperation in new functional areas in a hope that they will gradually establish a more stable multilateral security institution in the future. Meanwhile, apart from the multilateral framework, regional countries should also actively develop new types of bilateral and trilateral relations in order to enhance mutual trust and avoid crisis in hot districts or escalations of existing disputes.

The conference was the fourth annual workshop of the Five-University Research Collaboration on East Asia Security Cooperation, which was initiated by Prof. Anne-Marie Slaughter and Prof.  John G. Ikenberry of Princeton University in 2008 and co-promoted by the University of Tokyo, PKU, Korea University, and the National University of Singapore. The collaboration aims discuss essential strategic issues including Asia-Pacific situation, multilateral security cooperation and the construction of regional institutions, and to establish a cross-regional research network. Princeton University, PKU and the University of Tokyo hosted the first three annual workshops in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. In 2013, the National University of Singapore will host the fifth meeting of the partnership. A new 5-year research project of the Five-University Research Collaboration will start in 2014.