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The economic crises in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, and Japan have focused attention on the region's economic problems as well as its well-documented success. One potential problem is satiating these economies' increasing demand for energy. This problem has been made even more pressing by deep devaluations that substantially raised imported energy prices in local currency terms. IGCC Policy Papers 35-37, Energy and Security in Northeast Asia, seek to examine the international implications of the longer-term energy situation in Northeast Asia, including the decisions that government policymakers are likely to make to address their economies' pressing energy needs. Policy Paper 35, Fueling Security, debates the fundamental issue of whether rising energy demand generates new security dilemmas or whether efficient energy markets mitigate potential security risks arising from increased competition for energy resources. Kent Calder argues that energy rivalry might deepen tensions among the major powers in Northeast Asia, while Fereidun Fesharaki sees market competition where Calder sees rivalry. This paper examines the market assumptions behind these analyses, including the current status and projections for overall regional energy demand (Fesharaki, Sara Banaszak, and WU Kang) and fossil fuel use (WU).

China and Japan have led the way in developing a 'conflict avoidance' regime for the East China Sea where the two have extensive overlapping claims. The current regime includes a joint regulation and fishing zone and a prior notification regime for scientific research. The next step should be a regime regarding the use of force and military and intelligence-gathering activities in the EEZ. This article reviews the progress made in building this conflict avoidance regime and examines the need for and ways to expand it to cover military activities in the EEZ. Keywords East China Sea, regime building

Maritime issues are rising to the forefront of Asian security concerns. But maritime management regimes can constrain conflict and create confidence in co-operation. Such regimes can define the range of permissible state behavior and resolve dilemmas stemming from the sharing of common resources. Regimes originate through imposition, spontaneous processes, or negotiation and are supplied when there is sufficient demand for the functions they perform. Integrative forces that support regime formation are the existence of other international arrangements in the region; ethnic, cultural or historical interstate relationships; and clear indications of benefits to be gained. Often a shock or crisis enhances regime formation or its robustness. Disintegrative forces include political or territorial differences, competition for leadership, and opposition to regionalism. In regional co-operation on maritime issues, Southeast Asia is clearly more advanced than Northeast Asia. However, the absence of robust multilateral maritime regimes in Asia reflects state perceptions that the costs outweigh the benefits. The primacy of dis-integrative factors argues strongly for an ad hoc, issue-specific, evolutionary process for multilateral maritime regime building in Asia. Keywords: Asia, maritime regime building, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia

Oil is only one reason for Asia's many-sided disputes over tiny, uninhabitable islands. The aroma of oil and a whiff of potential conflict mingle in Asian seas, where promising oil [...]

This article explores the relationship between Vietnam's national interests and the international law of the sea. Vietnam's national interests in the marine sphere include defense (the maintenance of a maritime buffer); international relations (enhancing its regional position through joint development and favorable resolution of boundary and fisheries disputes); and economics (stimulating development of its maritime resources). Although ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention would be somewhat disadvantageous to Vietnam's maritime defense strategy, many provisions would promote Vietnam's interests. Moreover, ratification and implementation of the Convention would signal Vietnam's support for international law and its desire to "rejoin " the community of Southeast Asian nations. It might also encourage resolution of its boundary disputes, thus opening new areas to resource exploration and development by foreign companies.