Identities and Security in East Asia

Taylor & Francis

This paper analyses the way in which issues of identity have affected the actions of the key players in East Asia, and assesses future challenges and possibilities in the search for regional security. > \nEast Asia has been relatively free from large-scale conflict in the 1990s, but the absence of security organisations or even of a sense of community within the region has raised doubts about its future security. China and Japan are likely to bear much of the responsibility for maintaining stability, but both countries have been reluctant to adopt a leadership role. South-east Asian states have been willing to take the initiative outside of their sub-region, but they possess neither the resources nor the authority to lead the whole of East Asia. In the long term, the ability to organise the region depends on greater clarity in the identity of leading states in the region, and of the region as a whole. \nThis paper analyses the way in which issues of identity have affected the acti: