Topic: Security Cooperation in East Asia
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Kathryn Chambers
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Saudi Arabia position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
After the Meiji era (1868), Japan became an international military power, following the necessary steps to obtain it. Russia and Japan battled head to head for the remainder of the 19th and 20th century over the land in East Asia. However, the Soviet Union gained the most control over the region because of Japan’s loss World War II. Furthermore, the Soviet Union focused it’s time and efforts into Eastern Europe, leaving a “power vacuum,” which encouraged the United States to interfere. The Chinese Communist Party dipped their toes into the “conflict,” but were not powerful enough to make a footprint. By 1950, however, the People’s Republic of China was powerful enough to support North Korea on their reign of terror in the region. The Cold War years were somewhat uneventful from a regional security perspective. However, in more recent years, tensions have escalated dramatically and China is now the powerhouse of the region. The recent deployment of a missile system in South Korea by the United States has fomented anger from China, who argues that the system’s stated purpose of defending against strikes is a cover for their real motives (weakening China’s own nuclear arsenal). Overall, this leaves American objectives unclear, China gaining strength, Japan restless, and the North Korean nuclear program spreading across East Asia. China’s need for energy and oil and Japan’s lack of energy resources give them a reason to cooperate with Saudi Arabia. Yet, shared security concerns over Iran and desire for American investment will ensure the Saudis do not drift far from the United States. Saudi Arabia created these deals to ward off “Iranian economic encroachment,” in Muslim states. With the Saudi-Iran rivalry brewing because of the removal of nuclear sanctions, Saudi hopes these deals will favor Saudi trade with Asian partners.
