Challenges Facing the East Asia Region - Essay Example

Challenges Facing the East Asia Region Introduction East Asia refers to the region found on the eastern parts of Asia and has major players such as China and Japan, but also includes South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Hong Kong as well as Taiwan amongst others (Pempell, 2005). It is one of the regions of the world that has the largest populations as well as the fastest growing economies but continues to experience three challenges that affect its polities, economies and the populations. These three challenges that they experience include; the competition between China and Japan; guaranteeing sustained economic growth as well as the accommodation of the expanding population; and unsustainable use of the limited resources and dealing with the environmental issues. Notably, China and Japan which have an historical rivalry have continued to exert their authority and influence as the superior players in this region, and the challenges that this are experiences majorly revolve around these two important East Asia powers (IISS, 2014). Challenges Facing the East Asia Region a) Competing interests of China and Japan The polities, economies and the populations of East Asia are all dependent on the competing strategic interests of China and Japan, which pose a challenge to individual states within the region (IISS, 2014). This challenge has been aggravated by the security factors as well as the competition for territories amongst the two superpowers in the region such as the control over certain islands and parts of the sea (Feigenbaum, 2015). For example, Japan has made attempts at being the major player in the region in terms of security and the management of contested regions such as the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea (IISS, 2014). Moreover, the perceived closeness to the United States as is the case of Japan as opposed to China has further brought challenges in the determination of the geopolitical positioning of nations in the East Asia region. The above point implies that that the assertive reaction of China to the regional security of the East Asia region coupled with Japan’s nationalism in foreign policy has had an enduring effect on the neighboring nations, hence worsening the situation in region. For example, the Philippines and Vietnam as other players in the East Asia region have sided with Japan in the handling of the territorial issues with regard to the contested islands and sea territories. Apart from the above two dominant players, the major players in this region that derive their influence from them are North Korea and South Korea (IISS, 2014). North Korea which derives its support from China continues to pose a regional security threat to its neighbor’s especially South Korea and this has drawn other players such as Japan. The result of the competition between Chinese and Japanese interests in the East Asia region has therefore affected its politics and international relations between its constituent nations (Miller and Wich, 2011). For instance, nations such as Philippines and Vietnam have in the past explored direct confrontation of China over the ownership of territories within South China Sea while Japan has also contemplated military action against China over the ownership of islands that it claims (Zou, 2005). This implies that nations in the East Asia region react to regional issues such as security and ownership of territories depending on their closeness to Japan or China and their policies. a) Inability to guaranteeing sustained economic growth in the midst of high population growth East Asia is one of the regions that continue to experience the highest economic growths in the world, but this is also a challenge as most of the nations cannot match up the economic growth vis-à-vis the population explosion. The economic growth can partly be attributed to the expansion of its population as evident in the cases of China and Indonesia (Mahbubani, 2014). However, this also poses a challenge in that the nations must endeavour to secure this economic growth in the midst of the increasing number of people (Mason, 2011). Further, different economic policies that are practiced in the nations have made this more challenging in that different states have distinct ways through which their economies are driven. Therefore, the trends in motion set in East Asia starting from the periods of the ancient wars, the two world wars as well as the Cold War have continued to shape the economic directions of the nation (Miller and Wich, 2011). For instance, China has registered a large growth in its economy that is propelled by export-led growth model as well as a larger domestic market that offers ready market for its emerging market. Despite the fact that the nations have been experiencing economic growths of unprecedented levels, it has reached a point that the increasing populations may no longer be sustainable. The result of the above is the fact that the large populations are at risk of living lives under poor conditions as evident in some parts of China and this affects the general socio-economic well being of the nations. This is because the governments in this region have overemphasized in economic growth that does not translate to improved welfare of the citizens. In most cases, these citizens do not reap the economic benefits of the said growth as their large populations make it difficult for the government to serve each and every citizen’s wellbeing. b) Unsustainable use of limited resources and dealing with environmental issues Unsustainable use of resources, especially energy in the East Asia region has posed a major challenge to the inhabitants of the area as it has led to environmental degradation and negative effects associated with climate change (Mori, 2013). This has made the region vulnerable as the risks associated with competition for insufficient resources emerge between the major players mainly China and Japan. An example of this challenge is that there is an ongoing competition between Japan and China for the territories and islands which are deemed as important economic resources required to propel their respective economic growths. In addition, due to the rapid economic growth experienced in some of these nations such as China, there has emerged a risk associated with the environmental issues such as pollution and global warming in the region. East Asia as a region is not self-sufficient with regard to resources such as energy and relies on energy from external sources especially from the Middle East (Fujita, Kumagai and Nishikimi, 2008). While the region has experienced massive economic growth, this has been accompanied by increased emission of greenhouse gases that greatly pollute the environment and contribute to global warming. Within the East Asia region and particularly China, the substantial industrial activity emits the greenhouse gases that cause environmental problems associated with global warming. The end result of this is that there have been blame games between nations such as China and Japan without due consideration to the impact that the environmental degradation have on the citizens of this region. The continued pollution and global warming have had an impact on the economies of these nations as well as the population (Song and Woo, 2008). For example, climate change effects such as typhoons and disappearance of certain islands as well as flooding have negatively affected certain parts of Japan and China. This shows that the economic activities of the dominant players in this region have contributed to the environmental degradation that affects the populations of the respective nations. Conclusion From the foregoing, it has been shown that the major challenges that affect the East Asia region is the uneven economic growth that does not grow in tandem with the burgeoning population, competing interests of Japan and China as well as the environmental challenges. The upshot of these is that the polities, economies and populations in the constituent nations are affected in one way or the other by these challenges. This also affects how these nations relate with each other in the international arena with regard to the competing interests of the major players in the region that is China and Japan. Therefore, in the analysis of the challenges that affect the East Asia region, one has to put into perspective the economic growths registered by nation in this area and the overbearing interests of the Chinese and Japanese players. References Feigenbaum, E., A. (February 2, 2015). ‘The New Asian Order and How the United States Fits In’. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from Fujita, M., Kumagai, S., & Nishikimi, K. (2008). Economic integration in East Asia: Perspectives from spatial and neoclassical economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. IISS. (September 17, 2014). Asia-Pacific, Strategic Survey, 114, 1, 309-378. Mahbubani, K. (November 22, 2014). ‘A golden age looms for Asia’, Strait Times. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Retrieved from http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/news/a-golden-age-looms-for-asia/ (Accessed September 10, 2015). Mason, A. (2001). Population change and economic development in East Asia: Challenges met, opportunities seized. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. Miller, A. L., & Wich, R. (2011). Becoming Asia: Change and continuity in Asian international relations since World War II. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. Mori, A. (2013). Environmental governance for sustainable development: East Asian perspectives. Tokyo, Japan. United Nations University Press. Pempel, T. J. (2005). Remapping East Asia: the construction of a region. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Song, L., & Woo, W. T. (2008). Chinas dilemma: Economic growth, the environment and climate change. Canberra: Anu E Press. Zou, K. (2005). Law of the sea in East Asia: Issues and prospects. London: Routledge Curzon. Read More