Most Asian countries have been expanding their military budgets, while America and Europe have been reducing military spending. China’s decades-long economic growth has created increasing uncertainty about the future distribution of power and widespread suspicions in the region, which are reflected in rising tensions over maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas. In the face of North Korea’s continued efforts to develop its nuclear weapons capability and long-range missile arsenal, Japan and South Korea have also made significant military capability improvements. While the US remains by far the world’s largest military spender, still more than the combined spending of the next 10 countries, the 2011 Budget Control Act imposed the expenditure ceilings on all government departments including defense by ‘sequestration’ – automatic cuts. This session will discuss how serious the arms race in East Asia is and what measures we need for peace in the region.
• How would the US plan to cut defense spending affect its strategic posture in East Asia, despite Obama’s declaration of ‘rebalancing’ to Asia-Pacific?
• What type of military preparedness has been implemented since Hu Jintao announced the PLA’s new historic mission of “defending China’s overseas interests” in 2004?
• Will the Abe administration be able to implement its plan to improve military capability? If so, how?
• Will North Korea ever be ready to trade off its nuclear weapons for Western recognition and aid?

- Moderator
Nayan CHANDA (Director of Publications, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization)

- Participants
Satu LIMAYE (Director, East-West Center in Washington D.C.)
PAN, Zhenqiang (Major General, retired, National Defense University, PLAN)
John SWENSON-WRIGHT (Senior Lecturer, Asian Studies Center, University of Cambridge)
CHOI, Kang (Director of Planning, Korea National Diplomatic Academy)

- Rapporteur
KANG, Chan Koo (Program Officer, East Asia Foundation)