HONG KONG, November 27, 2014 - An academic has painted a bleak assessment of the current state of strategic relations in East Asia. Addressing the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Professor Jae Ho Chung, Director of the Program on US-China Relations at Seoul National University, commented "In retrospect, I am not sure whether that the Cold War was all that bad", since it had managed to keep inter-state conflicts derived from old sources under the surface.

With the strategic landscape of East Asia undergoing a tectonic shift, Professor Chung underscored the rise of China was just one of the defining characteristic of the regional security challenges. Others included the relative decline of America, the rise of Japan, the nuclearization of North Korea, the return of more traditional sources of inter-state conflict, as well as the crisis of democratic governance in many parts of the region.

Professor Chung postulated whether power would shift to Asia, should the United States no longer retain its dominant role in the world order. He outlined three possible outcomes should this be the case - a China-centered Asia, "Chindia" (China and India), or ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and Korea). Identifying numerous levels of uncertainty and growing disorder between governments and their people, Professor Chung concluded that good solutions may be hard to come by.

"I think we need to share a certain common faith in the region and where does that come from? It should come from leadership. But do we have such good leaders in many parts of the world? I am not quite sure."

Event Information: Changing Strategic Landscape in East Asia: Are We Asking the Right Questions?