Topic: Security Cooperation in East Asia
Country: Indonesia
Delegate Name: Medhanie Frezghi
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Indonesia position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Security cooperation in East Asia has been disrupted over issues arising in China, Japan, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korea’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons has become a growing threat after its first test in 2006. Five other nuclear tests have shocked the region since then, including a test on September third of this year. On August 29, 2017, and September 15, 2017, two missile tests were conducted over Japan, inducing fear and high-security tension in the region. By conducting these nuclear tests, North Korea has alarmed Japan; a major export partner of Indonesia, as well as many other countries of the world. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), an antiballistic missile system in South Korea implemented by the United States, is also causing regional security competition: as China perceives the system as a threat and attack on its own nuclear arsenal. Another threat that is generating tension between China and Japan are territorial disputes, as each nation tries to gain territorial control of the Senkaku and Diaoyu Islands. The depleting relations between China and Japan, due to the previously mentioned security tensions, combined with territorial disputes, has caused Japan to heighten its consideration of abandoning its commitment to pacifism which would allow the country's military to participate in self-defense and offensive military action. Indonesia, as one of the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also a signatory of the ASEAN Declaration, would like to see improvement in security cooperation in East Asia in order to further unify the region. Indonesia supports the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to work to encourage cooperation between its member states in the Asia and Pacific region.
Indonesia is strictly against the use of nuclear weapons, it is a signatory of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, or the Bangkok Treaty of 1995 in which state parties are obliged not to develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons; station nuclear weapons; or test nuclear weapons anywhere inside or outside the treaty zone. Also, The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Directorate of Multilateral Affairs seeks to stabilize and enhance international cooperation of peace and security. Indonesia is also a signatory of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Underwater, also known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Most recently, Indonesia is a signatory of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, signed on September 17 of this year, but which is not yet in force. With these treaties and resolutions, Indonesia aims to keep regional and international security through limitation and eventual disarmament of nuclear weapons. In order to improve security cooperation in East Asia, the threat of nuclear weapons must be resolved and confidence in the region must be restored and strengthened. Indonesia proposes that Japan continues its commitment to pacifism, in order to reduce tension between the nation and China and also to prevent the rise of another nuclear power in the region. Additionally, China and Japan must participate in open dialogue to settle their territorial disputes diplomatically over the Senkaku and Diaoyu Islands. In the case of North Korea, restrictions and trade bans with this country must be initiated in order to cut off the trade of nuclear weapons materials. The United Nations must also work on passage of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in order to end nuclear threats of all kind and promote cooperation and peace between nations. By these actions, China and Japan will have lessened tensions and North Korea's nuclear arsenal will diminish.
