In 2001, the Asia Pacific region faces changing security challenges. Positive developments include continuing changes on the Korean peninsula set in motion by the dramatic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea in June 2000. A worrying trend is the resurgent socio-political instability in several countries, notably Indonesia. No relations are more important to regional security than those among the larger countries—China, Japan, and the United States. These continue to be overshadowed by such issues as Taiwan, China’s weapons procurements, and the new Bush administration’s determination to move ahead with missile defense programs. This edition of the Asia Pacific Security Outlook—which, for the first time, contains a chapter on Mongolia—examines these issues from the perspective of individual countries in the region and explores their implications.

The Outlook presents national perceptions of regional security, key defense issues, and the contributions to regional and global security of twenty of the twenty-three member countries of the ASEAN Regional Forum. The Outlook is unique in utilizing a multinational team of security specialists to provide individual country reports, enabling readers to compare the views and defense policies of each state. The Outlook is written for general audiences and security experts alike.

The Asia Pacific Security Outlook is part of the Asia Pacific Agenda Project and is prepared through collaboration between the ASEAN Institutes for Strategic and International Studies, the East-West Center, and the Japan Center for International Exchange.