Islamabad: President Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) Sohail Amin today, said that Asia-Pacific has undergone serious changes in the Post Cold War era, making Asia the powerhouse of global politics.
A two-day International Conference titled “Emerging Security Order in Asia Pacific and its Impact on South Asia concluded in Islamabad. The Conference was organized by IPRI in collaboration with Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), Islamabad Office, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed was the chief guest of the inaugural session.
While speaking at two-day International Conference in Islamabad, he said that the shift of world powers from Atlantic to Asia Pacific mark the geostrategic importance of the region.
Chinese Maritime silk road converge only in one country i.e. Pakistan. Pakistan is the central point of One Belt One Road initiative, said Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence and Defence Production and Parliamentary Committee.
He said that CPEC was a 15 year project and is a destiny changer for the region while the India’s aggressive policy towards its smaller neighbours has created some destabilizing factors in the region.
Ambassador (R) Shamshad Ahmed stressed that Washington, not New York is the center of attention for developments in global arena. He further said that there is no consensus on major security issues and or their resolution. Palestine is tired and has given up, Iraq is still burning, Kashmir is disillusioned, Iran is on the parole, Syria is in the line of fire, and this process of instability has shifted to Africa, he lamented.
China’s answer to US’s Asia pivot is a one road one belt vision. It involves connectivity of masses, land, trade, most significantly of mindsets which has not been practiced before by any state. It is a bridge of unprecedented nature and magnitude.
Research Fellow, Tokyo Foundation, Japan Takaaki Asano said that the audience Japanese Government is a systematically trying to streamlines Japanese’s security policy in South Asian Security Order.
Maj. Gen. Noel I. Khokhar Director General, Institute for Strategic Studies Research and Analysis (ISSRA) stated that the US is geared towards safeguarding its position as superpower and on the other hand China’s String of Pearls Policy, CEPC and its growing influence in the region pose a threat to US’ status quo.
Dr David R. Jones, Visiting Faculty, School of Politics & International Relations (SPIR), Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad held that India’s soft power is badly being affected in the US due to its extreme policies and its aggressive attitude towards minorities during Modi Government. ‘
Dr Rizwan Nasser, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations COMSATS, Islamabad, said that China’s rising influence and US’ declining influence are the new dimensions of emerging security order in Asia Pacific
The first and second sessions of the conference were chaired by Inamul Haque, Former Minister and Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Maj. Gen. Noel I. Khokhar Director General, Institute for Strategic Studies Research and Analysis (ISSRA) respectively. The eminent speakers Shamshad Ahmed, Takaaki Asano, Bunn Nagara, Dr Dietrich Reetz, Dr Sawaran Singh and Dr David R. Johns addressed various aspects of emerging security order in Asia Pacific and its implications for the South Asian region.
