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Even in post-Cold War era, military tensions in East Asia persist due to different cultural background, historical disputes as well as military and security conflicts. In contrast, peace has taken a firm root in Europe since the end of the Cold War, with the community of European Union. European countries even pursue common diplomatic and security policies. What makes East Asia remain in the order of conflict and competition?

To find out answers for this question, we carried out a research project to identify the limitations of existing discussions about the formation of East Asian Community, and to overcome them. Past research projects analyzed the situation from economic, social, cultural and historical perspectives respectively, and paid little attention to fundamental issues. For military and security aspect, they only presented measures for cooperation through multi-national dialogue channels such as ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) etc. For economic aspect, they just dealt with policies to enhance economic cooperation among countries, focusing on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations + 3 (ASEAN+3). From the social, cultural and historical perspectives, they merely repeated that we should improve cooperation and pursue integration within the region in terms of different social background, culture, language and history, while each East Asian country's national identity is developed further.

"Soft Power" for Peace Regime in East Asia

The Northeast Asian History Foundation (hereinafter referred to as "the Foundation") recently published a book titled <Building Community and Peace in East Asia>, and I participated in research for two years with other experts, exploring plans to establish peace in East Asia by creating an effective community. The book discusses the fundamental reasons behind territorial disputes, explores ways to resolve them peacefully, covers various theories and policies regarding security and economic community, and presents new plans to create East Asian Community and establish Peace Regime in the region with "Soft Power" approach.

This book consists of three parts, and the following issues and topics are covered in each part. I oversaw the first part under the topic, "Plans to Pursue Peaceful Community in East Asia by Overcoming Territorial Disputes", and Professor Hong Gijun of Kyung Hee University, Dr. Lee Sangsu of Korea National Defense University, and Major Lee Gyuwon participated in research for this part. The authors analyzed the reasons behind fierce territorial disputes between East Asian countries, including the Senkaku Islands clash (China – Japan), the Kuril Islands dispute (Russia – Japan) and the South China Sea dispute, and also covered the Dokdo issue (Korea – Japan) and the Ieodo issue (Korea – China). In addition, they explored measures to deal with them in connection with ARF.

As it is unrealistic to discuss how to achieve a peaceful community without mutual understanding about territorial disputes and sovereignty issues, they recommend that East Asian countries should first agree on solutions and rules to deal with territorial issues, and then establish a multilateral organization for security and cooperation based on ARF. Considering that it will take a long time to create a multilateral security organization out of ARF, the researchers presented realistic, step-by-step approach, dividing into three periods (preliminary preparation – cooperation expansion – cooperation intensification).

Various ways to achieve multilateral cooperation in East Asia (from the left: APT member countries; ASEAN; East Asia Summit)

The second part was written under the leadership of Professor Cho Cheolho (Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University), and Dr. Eom Sangyun (Sejong University), Dr. Lee Jeongnam (Korea University), Dr. Kim Suhyon (Meerae Imagination Institute), Professor Kim Jihwan (University of Incheon), and Professor Lee Giwan (Changwon National University) took part in research. The second part covers the topic, "Theories and Policies for Security and Economic Community in East Asia for the 21st Century", and the authors explored constructive alternatives after reviewing and analyzing existing theories and policies.

This research contains a creative plan to establish security and economic community, and to ensure consistency in joint research, the authors used the same format for analysis, presenting their views on the objective, theoretical evidence, implementation plan, possibility for realization and prospects.

The third part was overseen by Professor Son Yeol (Yonsei University), and Professors Kim Sangbae and Jeon Jaeseong (Seoul National University), Professor Lee Seungju (Chung-Ang University), and Professor Choi Taewook (Hallym University) participated in research under the theme, "Soft Power Strategy for Coexistence in East Asia". The authors say that "consent" is crucial to engage others into a particular community, instead of coercion, and they emphasize the importance of Soft Power in this regard. This part is written under the concept of Soft Power, and identified various Soft Power assets of Korea that can be applied in East Asia, including economic development, trade, IT infrastructure and its role as a non-imperialist arbitrator. They claim that Korea can make the most of its assets and achieve Soft Power diplomacy.

Research That Leads to Change of Perception in East Asia

Creating a community and achieving peace in East Asia is a very difficult task, and we still have a long way to go. Historically speaking, we do not have experience of forming a community in East Asian through genuine cooperation and voluntary participation. Moreover, there are no signs of the formation of such a community encompassing political, military, social, economic and cultural aspects, due to structural and institutional limitations. Under these circumstances, the establishment of East Asian Community and peace in East Asian cannot be achieved overnight by political leaders' decision or declaration. Nor can it be automatically realized with an individual country's leadership and determination.

What is of critical importance here is how to induce change of perception in the minds of citizens across East Asia. To this end, the Foundation should continue to carry out relevant research projects, release the research outcomes in East Asia, and publish a number of books translated into English, Chinese, Japanese and other languages so that it can help reach consensus among experts, civic groups and governments in East Asia. In this respect, I hope that this book, which contains many different theories and policies regarding territorial disputes and security issues, and presents realistic plans to gradually achieve peace in East Asia, contributes to achieving a peaceful community in East Asia.