Author: Shiro Armstrong, ANU

The Asian region is diverse, dynamic and it faces immense challenges. Domestically most countries are experiencing rapid economic, social and political change and in the region there is a huge change taking place in the structure of power and influence.

The latest issue of the East Asia Forum Quarterly brings together essays from rising stars in the new region to address the changes taking place in the region and showcases the best from the new generation on Asia. The East Asia Forum invited the winners from an international competition to Canberra to discuss and debate the challenges the region faces.

Nowhere are these changes more remarkable than in China where the scale and pace of its growth is unprecedented in human history. Managing China’s rise is a top priority for all the countries in the region.

A new Japanese government is struggling to articulate its foreign policy and position Japan between a rising China and its long time ally, the United States, which has underpinned its security. Can Japan reinvent itself and lead regional cooperation initiatives with its neighbours in Northeast Asia and beyond in the formation of an East Asian Community?

The Quarterly also covers the challenges that other countries face: it is difficult to predict which in the end will be most critical to the future peace, prosperity and the stability of the East Asian region. There is the issue of breaking the deadlock in Northeast Asia around North Korea, the deepening of democratic institutions in Indonesia and how political transition can be managed in others, such as China and Burma. And there is the heightened question of US engagement with Asia – whichever way, a key to security and stability in the region.

India is looking East, not just for new markets, but to learn lessons in opening up to investment and reaping the benefits of globalisation. There are clearly lessons from East Asia for the whole South Asian region which lags in intra-regional integration across most dimensions.

The winner of the competition, and this week’s feature piece, was Geoffrey See writing on an East Asian Development Fund for North Korea. See is involved in a NGO program providing training in market economics in Pyongyang, supported by Yale University. See rightly argues that ‘the West is short of good ideas on dealing with Pyongyang.’ He suggests that a North Korea Development Fund (NKDF) should be created to invest in infrastructure and technical training in North Korea, as long as these projects facilitate regional trade. This idea might help facilitate the opening up of North Korea and settlement on the political front. While right now the Choenan (North Korea) affair dominates dealings with the DPRK, See’s suggestion would seem important, be practical and realistic in the medium term.