Energy And Security In East Asia

This book presents a critical review of the status of energy security in Asia and suggests how a country or a region collectively can achieve energy security in two broad aspects. First, it analyzes how regional cooperation and energy trade can enhance energy security in the region. Second, it reviews how energy security can be ensured in national and regional general contexts. From the reviews and analyses, this book asserts that diversification and integration are key to ensuring energy security. It presents policy implications for enhancing energy security, especially in resource-rich as well as resource-poor developing countries in Asia.

In this book, leading experts from seven countries-- Japan, Russia, China, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia-- assess security concerns over East Asian energy imports, particularly from the Middle East.

Drawing on cutting-edge research from leading scholars, this book investigates state preferences for regime creation and assesses state capacity for executing these preferences in Northeast Asia’s energy domain, defined as the geographical area comprising the following countries: Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea. It examines questions pertaining to how states perceive the need and necessity for establishing a regime when it comes to the issue of energy and how much commitment they make to the effort in Northeast Asia. The book analyses the factors that shape each country’s fundamental energy interests in the region, how these interests impact their attitudes toward engaging the region on energy security and the way they carry out their regional engagement. Based on countries’ interests in promoting institutionalized regional energy cooperation and their capacity for forging that cooperation, the collection assesses each state’s role in contributing to an energy regime in Northeast Asia. It then concludes with a critique on the decade-plus quest for energy security cooperation in Northeast Asia and suggests ways forward for facilitating regional energy security cooperation. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of environmental policy, energy policy, security studies, Asian studies and international relations.

Energy supply trends are good for Western security. Dependence on the volatile Persian Gulf may increase only slightly, as additional supplies come from stable pro-Western areas, such as Norway and Latin America. Also, the cost of producing oil is dropping thanks to the information revolution. In spite of East Asia's rapid growth, world oil demand is unlikely to grow each year by more than 1.5-2.0 million barrels per day (mbd). East Asian growth is concentrated in industries that use little energy. Oil demand growth in both China and the former Soviet Union will be modest as they shut or modernize energy-wasting heavy industries. Market forces increasingly determine what happens in the energy business, except in the Caspian basin where geopolitical factors will determine whether the region's rich oil and gas resources will be brought to market. An energy security issue for the coming decade will be adjusting to the next energy trade pattern, in which East Asia and the Persian Gulf become more tightly tied-each more reliant on the other.

Many states appear to have strong sentiment on energy security and energy transit vulnerability. Some analysts see the rapidly increasing demand for energy and competition for energy resources leading to nationalistic energy policies. Others argue that global trends with efficient energy markets and growing options on renewables suggest more relaxed energy outlooks. This book focuses on Asia, where global demand for energy is now concentrated in the aspiring and rising powers of the region: China, India, Japan and South Korea, and also recognises the importance of Russia as a growing energy supplier. Contributions by experts in the field provide detailed and parallel case studies. Shedding light on the ongoing debate in the literature regarding energy outlooks of major Asian states, they analyse whether energy policies are expected to evolve along market oriented cooperative lines or more competitive and even destructive mercantile, nationalist lines. The book argues that states are not unitary actors even in the key energy security arena and there are competing and contrasting viewpoints in Asian states on energy security. It suggests that domestic debates structure thinking on energy security, making energy policy more contingent than assumed by purely market or geopolitical logics. Providing a strong contribution to comparative energy security studies, the book fills an important gap in the literature on energy and national security and offers a basis for conducting further inter-state, interactive analysis. It will be of interest to researchers on Asian Studies, energy politics and international relations.

The main focus of the contributors of this volume is to analyze closely major aspects of energy security, energy diplomacy, and maritime security in East and Southeast Asia. Specifically, they examine the current state of energy security and maritime security of China and Japan, as well as Southeast Asia.