Japan, China, and South Korea face many security challenges. This project therefore conducts ongoing surveys of the attitudes of experts in the three countries pertaining to the current state of and the outlook for regional cooperation in Northeast Asia to find ways of promoting regional security cooperation; the results of the survey are then analyzed to identify current perceptions and perception gaps of those specialists.
Under the self-operated component of this project, the Seigakuin University General Research Institute was commissioned to provide support in Japan, including conducting the attitude surveys and coordinating meetings.
In fiscal 2006, preceding the surveys, a core group was formed of nine researchers, three from each of the three project countries.
Twice in fiscal 2006 and twice again in fiscal 2007 attitude surveys incorporating the Delphi method were conducted of 90 specialists and experts, 30 from each of the three countries. The core group then analyzed the results of each survey and gave an interim presentation of the analysis for fiscal 2006 at an international workshop held February 2007 in Seoul, South Korea.
In fiscal 2007, at the final symposium held October 19-20, 2007 in Seoul, the core group presented the final conclusions of the four attitude surveys. The survey findings were compiled in a report organized into two categories: (1) perceptions of experts in the three countries at the time of the surveys in regard to the fields of politics and diplomacy, economics, and society (history), and (2) to what degree the perceptions of the specialists had changed over the course of the project.
Given the rapidly changing situation in Northeast Asia, this project provided a rare attempt to collect on a continuing basis the views of experts who specialize in security affairs, the results of which have potential applications to future research.