SUMMARY

• Northeast and Southeast Asia form East Asia where countriesare economically interconnected, but regional powers are competitive in geostrategic terms. Although the military has no political role in most countries, in practice it dabbles in politics particularly in Southeast Asia. There is no monopoly for the use of force in practice.
• The delegation of security provision to an external actor in East Asia is highly unlikely now or in the foreseeable future due to geostrategic realities enhanced by power shifts from the West to the East and major power rivalries, in and outside East Asia that affect the region.
• Reforming the region’s security sector must respect context-specific sensitivities, given the distinctive differences between countries located in East Asia.
• Regional cooperation in non-traditional security issues particularly in humanitarian assistance and disaster response, pandemics, and environmental protection has increasingly crowded East Asia’s security agenda.