The second meeting of senior defense officials on common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region
The second meeting of senior defense officials on common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region was held for the second time on Thursday, March 25, 2010 in Tokyo.
Participants were from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Ambassador from Myanmar attended the meeting as an observer.
During the meeting, the participants constructively discussed common regional security challenges: the first agenda item was "non-traditional security challenges, including maritime security, disaster relief, peacekeeping and peace-building," and the second agenda item was "Building an Asia-Pacific Architecture for Security Cooperation"
On the first agenda item, participants shared their experiences, know-how regarding maritime security, disaster relief and PKO through discussion. The participants agreed that non-traditional security issues cannot be dealt with by only one country, and that it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and to improve capabilities in the region through the efforts such as sharing experiences and joint exercises.
On the second agenda item, participants discussed frameworks of security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, such as ADMM-Plus, and future prospects cooperation. The participants agreed that it is necessary to continue a series of efforts toward stabilizing the security environment in the region through a multilayered combination of multilateral frameworks, relying on the various features of existing frameworks for security cooperation.
Participants deepened mutual understanding on respective views regarding common regional security challenges. They all recognized and shared the view that dialogue of this kind is truly beneficial for forging a foundation for stronger bilateral and multilateral ties based on mutual trust and cooperation.
In addition, Vice-Minister Nakae held bilateral-meeting with the following country representatives:
- Brunei Darussalam: Permanent Secretary Dato Majid,
- Kingdom of Cambodia: Secretary of State for Ministry of National Defense
Gen. Neang Phat, - Republic of Indonesia: Vice-Minister of Defense LTG Sjafrie,
- Lao PDR: Permanent Secretary BG Sisophonh,
- Malaysia: Secretary General Dato'Sri Abu Bakar,
- Republic of the Philippines: Undersecretary for Defense Affairs Mr.Santos
- Viet Nam: Deputy Minister LTG Vinh
The archives for The first meeting of senior defense officials on common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region▼OPEN
1. Meeting of Senior Defense Officials on Common Security Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region
Welcoming Address by Parliamentary Secretary Takeda (Center)
The meeting of senior defense officials on common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region was held for the first time on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 in Tokyo. The purpose of this meeting is to build close person-to-person relationships among defense officials of Japan and ASEAN member countries through informal and frank discussion on regional security challenges. Participating countries other than Japan were Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
This meeting was chaired by Mr. Kohei Masuda, Vice-Minister of Defense, Japan. In the meeting, Japan explained the objectives of initiating the meeting and participants frankly and constructively discussed common regional security challenges such as humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, maritime security, peace keeping and peace building.
Participants deepened mutual understanding on respective views on common regional security challenges. They all recognized and shared the view that dialogue of this kind is truly beneficial for forging foundation for stronger bilateral and multilateral ties based on mutual trust and cooperation.
The Ministry of Defense of Japan proposed to hold the meeting on a regular basis and the participants supported the proposal.
[Welcoming address by Parliamentary Secretary Takeda (pdf)] (38KB)
2. Tokyo Seminar on Common Security Challenges
[Remarks by ParliamentarySecretary Kishi (pdf)] (18KB)
Address by Parliamentary Secretary Kishi at the Tokyo Seminar
The Ministry of Defense of Japan organized the 1st Tokyo Seminar on Common Security Challenges on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 in Tokyo.
This seminar aims to contribute to further proactive efforts by Japan to improve the security environment and to the promotion of regional dialogue and cooperation in the field of security. In this seminar, senior defense officials and distinguished experts from Southeast Asian countries and Japan explored the following issues:
1) Common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region;
2) Ways to facilitate regional cooperation against common security challenges; and
3) Roles and preparations of defense authorities in facilitating regional cooperation.
1st Tokyo Seminar was made open to the public.
Chair
Masashi Nishihara President, Research Institute for Peace and Security, Japan
Panelists
Session 1 "Common Security Challenges in the Region and Ways to Promote Regional Cooperation"
| Kohei Masuda | Vice-Minister of Defense, Japan |
| Antonio C. Santos Jr. | Undersecretary for Defense Affairs, Department of National Defense, Philippines |
| Jusuf Wanandi | Vice Chair, Board of Trustees of CSIS Foundation, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia |
| Mohamed Jawhar Hassan | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia |
| Seiichiro Takagi | Professor, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan |
Session 2 "Efforts of the Defense Authorities for the Promotion of Regional Cooperation"
| Barry Desker | Dean, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
| Thitinan Pongsudhirak | Director, Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand |
| Yasushi Akashi | Chairman, Japan Center for Conflict Prevention |
| Koichi Isobe | Vice Commanding General (International), Central Readiness Force, Ground Self-Defense Force, Japan |
| Masahiro Akiyama | Chairman, Ocean Policy and Research Foundation |
