ABSTRACT
Introduction What exactly is security and how does it come about? Security is not the product of any predictable rules, depends on individual threat perceptions, differs greatly according to an actor’s status and position within the international system and, most importantly, is subject to interpretation. Historically, security was understood in terms of threats to state sovereignty and territory. This traditional concept is called hard or military security During the Cold War, it was generally thought, firstly, serious armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific would only take place between the superpowers, or their clients; and, secondly, that it would be in one of four areas: the Sea of Okhotsk; the Korean Peninsula; Taiwan Strait; or the Sino-Soviet border. This security threat to the region changed dramatically in the late 1980s. Soviet nuclear submarines no longer use the Sea of Okhotsk as a strategic haven in preparation for a strike at the US. The dispute about islands there is a relatively minor affair. Furthermore, the Sino-Soviet border tension is much reduced following better relations between China and Russia. There has been an all-round amelioration of relations at a bilateral level, and some movement towards a more constructive regional dialogue on security issues. At the same time, globalization has produced a simultaneous emergence of localization with more emphasis on local issues, revival of traditional local (intra-national) conflicts, which had been suppressed by ideological divide of the Cold War and nuclear deterrence, and not least the terrorist movements. Such tensions inevitably impact on regional stability.
