Non-traditional Maritime Security Threats in Northeast Asia: Implications for Regional Cooperation

At the present, Northeast Asia, which is geopolitically surrounded by four great powers, the U.S., Russia, China, and Japan, has become a contested stage for enlarging the influences of these countries in the region. Naturally, this region has become the area where nations compete not only to rise to hegemonic status but also to achieve economic development, obtain energy resources, and maintain stability of SLOC. Even to this day, maritime environment has been a contested zone for numerous nations that are in rival relationships with each other. Powerful nations have explored the seas to pursue national interests as well as to seize key roles in the international society. However, the seas of the 21st century are no longer a stage for nations to compete or to engage in rivalry with each other. Certainly there is room for cooperation among countries in Northeast Asia. Cooperation among regional countries will be the key to open this window of opportunity to open this space of cooperation. With such constraining circumstances, this paper tries to find the way ahead to deal with the issue in terms of non-traditional maritime security threats in Northeast Asia.