International Workshop for Peace and Disarmament in the Asia-Pacific Region: for Civilian Control of the Security Sector

The workshop was jointly organized by People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. The Center for peace and Law of the Institute of Legal Studies of Inha University, Pacific Freeze, Peace Network, and Civil Peace Forum on 17th November 2010. The purpose of organizing this workshop is to set grounds for launching a new civil movement for peace and disarmament in the Asia-Pacific Region beyond the borders. The workshop was separated into two sessions for the better understanding of the participants attending it. The first session was presented by presenters from the U.S., Japan, South Korea and China. This was an interesting session as the presenters discussed about the cases from their respected countries on Security Policies and Civil Priorities in the Asia- Pacific Region. The second session consisted of presenters delivering the session based on their personal opinions on Creating Civil Solidarity for NWF Disarmament and Prevention of Armed Conflict in Asia-Pacific Region. Amongst the two sessions that I attended, I personally found that the first session of the workshop is an area that I would like to embark on.

First speaker, John Feffer from Institute for Policy Studies, U.S. presented his opinion about the U.S military policy and its military strategy in Asia which in fact was very much informative for those people who are not familiar with the U.S military doctrine. He mentioned that recently the Obama administration has decided to cut on the U.S military budget and one third of all overseas the U.S military bases which in a sense looks good, but the hidden agenda behind it is that the U.S is trying to compel its allies like South Korea and Japan to spend more on military spending or make them buy the U.S military weapons. He also mentioned that the U.S. still wants to extend its allies for two major reasons: counter terrorism and to prepare for war that could happen in future with the emerging military power like China. He kept on criticizing the U.S. foreign policy stating that a truly progressive foreign policy is not in the cards for the United States any time soon. He concluded his presentation stating that the U.S. economic crisis is a great opportunity for civil societies of the countries that were involved in the Six Party Talks to give pressure for the reduction on military spending and to give pressure to utilize that money to address major global issues like climate change, nuclear weapon threat, etc.

Second speaker, Akira Kawasaki from Peace Boat, Japan focused on Japan's recent Defense White Paper and Prime Minister's Advisory Plan Report. He mentioned that White Paper stresses the vital role played by the U.S. military forces stationed in Japan in protecting the nation, and elaborated the defense situation over the southwest archipelago as well as the situation on the Korean Peninsula. He also mentioned that Prime Minister's Advisory Plan Report is more aggressive as it calls for changing Japan from a passive peace-loving nation to a proactive peace-loving nation. He concluded his presentation stressing that innovative civil society approaches should be developed and implemented to contribute to non-traditional security, relating to such issues as crime, piracy, disasters and climate change without relying on national military force. 

Third speaker, Taeho Lee from the PSPD, South Korea expressed his concern regarding the South Korea's military strategy. He mentioned that in recent years South Korea's military strategy has gone from defense-oriented to increasingly offensive. It is developing its cruise missiles, planning a high-speed military communications network, building bigger warships, boosting its space exploration program and  is planning to export solid and cheap weapons to any conflict zones in the world accordingly to local needs and to send troops to a foreign country when needed for arms sales or military support. He also mentioned that overall military situation in Northeast Asia now resembles the Cold War Period. He concluded his presentation by suggesting that Pacific Freeze should initiate a campaign; urgently and directly requesting that South Korea, Japan and U.S. should start disarmament without mentioning North Korean Nukes. He mentioned that for success of the Pacific Freeze campaign, they should regularize their efforts to present alternative interpretation on contemporary situations and peace strategies as challenging that state threat interpretation and security policies.

Fourth speaker, Hua Han from Beijing University mentioned that China is not necessarily a threat to its neighbors. The core threat and security challenges of China are more internal than external, so it has taken a defensive and cooperative approach in making and implementing its security policy. China has always been taking steps to develop to defuse tension and crisis before they escalate into a conflict. She also added that China is not facing any imminent threat of invasion across its long land border and has resolved most border disputes with neighbors. She concluded stating that China has emphasized on navy buildup in last two decades, but Navy buildup is driven by economic ambition rather than expansionist agenda.

My Personal Reflection on the First Session of the Workshop

The entire programme was a challenging and new experience for me as I had the opportunity to learn about the current power struggle between highly equipped Northeast Asian nations. All four presenters highlighted that in recent years, security environment especially in Northeast Asia is in critical condition due to the clash of opposing strategic interests of China with the United States. The United States continues to strategically, politically and militarily dominate Northeast Asia which is unacceptable for the economically and militarily powerful country like China. Increased tension between these powerful countries has drastically increase military spending in East Asia. Traditional U.S. allies like South Korea and Japan are drastically increasing their budget to introduce more high-tech military weaponry with the United States support. Likewise, China itself has embarked on an accelerated comprehensive military buildup and modernization with particular emphasis on buildup of naval and air force assets. It is even indirectly encouraging North Korea's nuclear strategy by providing them with economic aid. Power struggle between China, Russia and North Korea on the one hand and the U.S., Japan and South Korea on the other hand has massively increased their budget on military spending which has in fact has increased chances of conflict or new cold war in this region rather than brining peace and stability.

I personally agree with Mr. Feffer presentation, as it is evident that the USA makes efforts in controlling clashes between nations for the purpose of peace making, but that purpose is controversial with reality because the U.S. is the top weapon producer and exporter. According to the various internet sources, the U.S. military budget makes up almost half of the entire world's defense spending. The base budget for the Department of Defense in 2010 was more than $500 billion US Dollars (USD), not counting overseas expenditures and emergency spending. The U.S. Army gets the biggest percentage of that money, about $250 billion USD a year, followed by the Navy and the Air Force. Despite this, the combined total military budgets of the six next highest spenders from China, France, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan still don't add up to the U.S. military budget. When we analyze the figure closely, it is very easy for us to doubt the claim of the U.S. regarding peace. On the other hand, presenters Mr. Lee from South Korea and Mr. Kawasaki from Japan highlighted the fact regarding their countries eagerness to produce and spend more on modern high-tech military equipments giving the reasons of self defense. They also mentioned that their countries involvement in producing modern high-tech weapon with the support of the U.S. is profit oriented and power driven rather than for self defense. I am not in favor of Mrs. Han presentation as she only focused most of her presentations in favor of China's military activities relating it with the self defense. But on the other hand, the recent Chinese military activities demonstrate that it wants to dominate the region economically and militarily by replacing the U.S.

War is always initiated by the state for their vested interest, but innocent people are the ones who suffer the consequences of war.  People are always in search of peace and are seen to strongly oppose the bloodshed activities initiated by the governments in the name of self defense and power. They have never been able to appreciate the production of weapons whether it is done for profit gain or for self defense purpose as they know that ultimately the weapons would eventually be used mainly for destruction. Therefore, civil societies around the world are always raising the issue of disarmament, but it is generally neglected by the states. All four presenters were highly concerned about this issue and stressed on the importance of civil societies of Asia Pacific region to organize various innovative programs to give pressure to these governments to reduce their military spending and draw their attention to address more important global issues like poverty, economic crisis, unemployment, climate change, nuclear weapon threat, etc.

Finally, the information provided by all the presenters was just right, easy to understand and relevant for the needs of the participant. It would have been good if there were usage of power point slides and pictures to clearly understand the presentation as most people are visual learners including myself. However, such workshops are really beneficial and should be organized more often to ensure that people are alerted and prepared. I am glad that I was provided with this opportunity by my lecturer to attend the workshop and be able to grasps the knowledge and experience of the presenters.

Thank You !

Vivek Pandey

MA in Inter Asia NGO Studies

SungKongHoe University

Note: I wrote this paper as a part of assignment for Understanding and Experience Korean Society-MAINS 2010.