How has security cooperation changed in the Asia-Pacific? Regional countries have increasingly carried out security cooperation activities with China, despite the absence of formal alliance ties. Yet there is a dearth of systematic data and analysis on China’s security cooperation with the region.

Park presents a new dataset of joint military exercises in the Asia-Pacific from 1970 to 2019 and examines variations in security cooperation patterns using network analysis and case studies. The key finding is that US allies and strategic partners increased joint military exercise with China after the 2000s.

​She argues that the regional security cooperation network has become more inclusive, densely connected, and less centralized over time. These findings imply that countries in the Asia-Pacific today are much more connected to each other in the security realm than formal alliance patterns suggest.

​Kyuri Park is a PhD candidate in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). Her PhD dissertation examines the variations in patterns of security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific over time using network analysis and case studies. Her other projects examine South Korea’s middle power foreign policy. Kyuri completed a MA in Asian Studies at Georgetown University and a BA in International Relations from Ewha Womans University in South Korea.

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This seminar is the seventh of the Women in Asia-Pacific Security Research Seminar Series 2020-21, jointly supported by the Graduate Research & Development Network for Asian Security (GRADNAS) and the ANU Gender Institute.

This seminar series showcases the cutting-edge academic research of women in the fields of Asia-Pacific security broadly-defined, and serves as an international platform for strengthening academic exchange, feedback, and mentorship. For more information, contact the Series Convenor, Professor Evelyn Goh evelyn.goh@anu.edu.au.