East Asia is a major centre of economic and technological development. While on the one hand the region is gradually becoming integrated through regional institutions such as APEC, ASEAN, ARF and EAS, with numerous free trade agreements and economic partnership agreements buttressing the process, trends running counter to integration are also visible. Several territorial disputes exist, and the burden of history still divides nations. The security and strategic implications are critical.

A talk was given by Professor Hitoshi Tanaka on 18 October 2014 at ORF, New Delhi, on the subject of a transforming East Asia and Japan’s foreign policy. This talk was a prelude to an international conference on Regional Integration in the Indo-Pacific: Prospects and Challenges held in New Delhi on 24-25 November 2014. Prof. Tanaka, currently Chairman of Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, is a former diplomat who retired as Japan’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. As one of the main intellectual architects of Japan’s foreign policy over the past several years, he has been a key actor in shaping Japan’s approach to East Asia, particularly policy toward North Korea and Japan’s participation in the regional community building process.