Introduction

Asia is becoming wealthier, but a major underlying factor explaining its economic rise is the well-established energy interdependence between two large swathes of the continent: West Asia with the oil-producing Gulf at its core, and the rest of Asia, with oil and gas-consuming nations of India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea at its heart. This inter-dependence raises the fascinating, but inevitable question: Has economic collaboration among Asian countries reached such a high level of maturity that strategic thinkers in Asia must now be impelled to urgently consider the formation of complementary pan-Asian security architecture? The chapter argues in the affirmative: the seeds of larger pan- Asian security cooperation, quite inadvertently have already been sown. However, they need to be carefully nurtured and protected to enable them to sprout and flower at an appropriate stage.

The dynamic growth of Asia and the demand for energy sourced from the Gulf countries has played a profoundly powerful integrationist role. Not only has energy partnership between the Gulf countries and the rest of Asia become critical for the latter’s energy security and economic stability, it has also injected a powerful political dimension into the pan-Asian equation. As a result, it is in the vital interest of the rest of Asia that a political conflict in the Gulf, currently hovering around Iran, is best avoided. Not only could a violent confrontation in this region impede energy flows and impair two-way investments, but for several countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, such a conflict would deliver a heavy double blow. Apart from endangering the lives of their nationals, who abound in their millions inside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the six countries that belong to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), it would also dry up the critical flow of billions of dollars that Asian guest workers remit to their countries back home.