Topic: Security Cooperation in East Asia
Country: Iceland
Delegate Name: Sreevas Ramakrishnan
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Iceland position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Security cooperation in East Asia falls behind different types of regional cooperations. According to the article, Tomorrow’s East Asia, the relationships among China, Japan, and the United States—the most powerful and effective security players in the area—represent this broad pattern of extensive economic interaction and limited security cooperation. The East Asia region is facing a prolific number of traditional and non-traditional security problems such as conventional and nuclear armament, territorial disputes, resource conflicts, major power rivalries, natural catastrophes, and piracy (Gudrun Wacker). China plays a special role: the nation's economic growth, its military modernization, and its foreign policy stance have led different nations in the Asia-Pacific area to see it as a danger. The Chinese Communist Party utilized its energy in the Middle Kingdom, but after its war years, China was not prepared to use its power in the region. By 1950, the People's Republic of China was prepared to back the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea. With the United States helping the Democratic Republic of Korea in the South, it set the stage for the Korean War. East Asia is home to an intricate web of multilateral associations. The most essential are formed around the ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) part states; this intergovernmental organization was created on August 8, 1967 (Security Cooperation in East Asia).
Although Iceland doesn’t play a significant role in the security cooperation of East Asia, the region has made foreign ties with Asian countries and voiced their opinions to the public. ASEAN has cooperative peacekeeping mechanisms pre-dating the end of the Cold War and wanted to deepen and widen security cooperation in the 1990’s. North Korea’s nuclear development efforts have arguably served as a principal incentive for expanded security cooperation in Northeast Asia. Iceland supports tougher sanctions against North Korea after the wake of the latest nuclear bomb. According to the Iceland Review, Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs harshly censured North Korea’s experimental nuclear test; the minister said the Icelandic government is against all usage of nuclear weapons and will lobby for decreased usage of such weapons internationally. He also encouraged all nations to unite and fight against all nuclear armaments. In a country whose economy thrives on trade, Iceland realizes the importance of peace and security and how it is vital to profitable business interests. The conflict in East Asia will not only affect Iceland but the trading partners of the country. This would affect the global economy because a crash in trade would result in worldwide ramifications such as a recession.
Iceland proposes that the United Nations impose stricter bans on North Korea. In order to prevent the development of hazardous nuclear weapons in DPRK, the UN should enforce restrictions on the movement of materials overseas. Since China is North Korea’s largest trading partner, Iceland suggests another solution; this solution calls for China’s sovereignty from the UN. In a country that flourishes by trade, Iceland knows the firsthand consequences it would face if there was a conflict in the security cooperation in East Asia. In order to prevent this, the UN can extinguish any disputes between countries in East Asia and try keeping them all united and politically stable. A resolution that advocates for a combination of strategies to prevent North Korea’s nuclear development and increase security in East Asia will protect all civilians making the global world a safer place.
