Northeast Asia’s Competing Visions

Northeast Asia is a region of mass migrations, increasing environmental fragility, tentative geo-economic integration, and enduring geopolitical contestation. Competing visions for regional integration and development—China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Russia’s Pivot to Asia, Mongolia’s Third Neighbor Policy, South Korea’s New Northern policy, and Japan’s efforts to serve as a “system stabilizer”—speak to Northeast Asia’s potential to become a region of global significance. But for now, Northeast Asian development remains mostly promise and, even where actual progress is made, it tends to stir no shortage of controversy.

This article was originally published in Asian Geographer.