The book focuses on the main security threats, defence industry, arms trade, defence policies and military capabilities related issues in the Asia-Pacific region. There are only a very few regions in the world which have advanced so fast both economically and technologically as the Asia-Pacific in the past few decades. Probably this is one of the reasons why several countries in the region have gained confidence, sharpened their diplomatic tone, increased their defence expenditure, invested into military capabilities, and questioned both the local and global status-quo. The region contains emerging powers, far-reaching ambitions, threatening rhetoric, rising political tensions, and concerns about military conflicts. Factors that show that critical issues are at stake, the reopening of long-forgotten debates, are more relevant than ever and masses of uncertainties are yet to be resolved. This book will be of much interest to all students and scholars of Asia-Pacific Security, Asian politics and International Relations in general. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Defense & Security Analysis.

"This monograph is composed of submitted papers for the fourth "International Workshop on Asia-Pacific Security" hosted by the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) on January 16 and 17, 2013"-- Preface.

The Asia Pacific Security Outlook series provides assessments of the security environment, defense issues, and regional and global cooperation from the perspectives of countries that participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum. This ninth edition reports on the impact of such recent trends and events as the continuing slow-motion crisis over North Korea's nuclear program and other potential proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; further terrorist attacks combined with the forces of radical Islamism and regional rebellion that threaten numerous countries in the region; stresses in the relations of major regional powers, including China's relations with the United States (especially over Taiwan) and Japan; and new questions about the long-term future of a U.S. presence in the region. Adding the toll of natural disasters, disease, and persistent poverty, human security is under threat virtually throughout the region. Based on the work and expertise of a multinational team of security analysts and written for generalists and specialists alike, the Outlook is the most concise and authentic comparative work in this field. Contributors include Ross Cottrill (Australian Institute of International Affairs), Allen G. Sens (University of British Columbia), Martin Wagener (University of Trier, Germany), Philips Vermonte (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia), Ken Jimbo (Japan Forum for International Relations), Kim Sung-han, (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK), Elina Noor (Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia), Bayarmagnai Toinkhuu (Institute for Strategic Studies, Mongolia), Peter Cozens (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand), Victor Cha (Georgetown University), Ronald J. May (Australian National University), Noel M. Morada (Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, Phillipines), Sergey Sevastyanov (Vladivostok State University of Economics, Russia), Yeo Lay Hwee (Singapore Institute of International Affairs), Mallika Joseph (Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, India), Sakkarin Niyomsilpa (Kasikorn Research Center, Institute of Security and International Studies, Thailand), Hoang Anh Tuan (Research Institute for International Relations, Vietnam), Richard W. Baker (East-West Center), and Charles E. Morrison (East-West Center).

The Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment provides insight into key regional strategic, geopolitical, economic, military and security topics. Among the topics explored are: the deteriorating USChina relationship and great-power competition; US alliances and security partnerships; the collapse of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty; diplomatic gridlock on the Korean Peninsula; Japan’s role in Indo-Pacific security; the breakdown in Japan–South Korea relations; Indonesian policy towards the South China Sea; Australia’s defence and security outlook; the European security role in Asia. Authors include leading regional analysts and academics Douglas Barrie, William Choong, Aaron Connelly, Andrew Davies, Michael Elleman, Bonnie S. Glaser, Euan Graham, Christopher W. Hughes, Meia Nouwens, Brendan Taylor and William Tow.

New developments in the Asia Pacific are forcing regional officials to rethink the way they manage security issues. The contributors to this work explore why some forms of security cooperation and institutionalisation in the region have proven more feasible than others. This work describes the emergence of the professions in late tsarist Russia and their struggle for autonomy from the aristocratic state. It also examines the ways in which the Russian professions both resembled and differed from their Western counterparts.

We cannot expect in East Asia over the foreseeable future to see the sort of conflation of sovereign states that has occurred in Europe. We must anticipate that, for the foreseeable future, the requirement will be for the sensible management and containment of competitive instincts. The establishment of a multilateral security body in East Asia that includes all the key players, and which the major powers invest with the authority to tackle the shaping of the regional security order, remains a critical piece of unfinished business.