ABSTRACT

This chapter considers ways in which ideas and assumptions about non-offensive defence, and the broader concept of common security, figure in the consideration of Asia-Pacific regional security problems and future regional security arrangements. In the 1980s, common security thinking found its way into the debate about Asia-Pacific security via several main channels. The academic and public discourse about common security in the Asia-Pacific region pre-dated the end of the Cold War in Europe and had both East and West European sources. A more "robust" version of common security for the Asia-Pacific, advanced by some regional academic analysts, argues for the early establishment of a multilateral region-wide forum, along the lines of the CSCE. By the time Gorbachev made his historic visit to Beijing in May 1989, formalizing Sino-Soviet detente, and representing a major advance for regional stability, all conditions had largely been met by the Soviet government.