Until the establishment of the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, however, not even an informal consultative process existed to advance such important objectives. Participants from the United States have included deputy assistant secretaries for East Asia and the Pacific from the Defense and State Departments. The informality of the process allows the participants to air their concerns and brainstorm about new approaches to building cooperation and reducing the risk of conflict in Northeast Asia. At each meeting of the Dialogue, there is a session on national perspectives on security in Northeast Asia. The substance of the presentation is completely up to the presenter, but can include the country s policies in the region and its concerns about the policies of other states in the region.
Emphasis is upon what has changed in the most recent eight months.
Following each presentation, there is a question and answer period when any Dialogue participant can ask questions to the presenter or the presenter's colleagues from that country. Following the same format as this session is one focused on the military perspectives on security in the region, which includes presentations from either defense ministry officials or military officers. At each meeting, a non-security issue also is the basis of discussion for at least one session, when potential options for regional cooperation are examined. Subjects of past discussions included economic complementarity, the environment, agriculture and food supply, energy, and maritime shipping. Nonetheless, at this meeting, participants realized that cooperation on less confrontational issues, such as economic and environmental problems, might build the trust needed to tackle more sensitive international security problems.