Contextualizing Borders in East Asia: An Introduction

There have been discussions on the validity of theorising border studies since the beginning of this century. The nature of borderlands encompassing borders may be understood from a generalised perspective, but this special section argues the importance of contextualising borders from an appropriate theoretical framework built on preceding works. From such a viewpoint, this special section investigates various aspects of East Asia’s borders and borderlands and contextualises them in the region’s dynamic geopolitical and geoeconomic contexts. The selected four articles focus mainly on border issues in China, North Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan and Hong Kong, showing that East Asia, particularly the East China Sea region, consists of non-conventional borders and that deviations from the Westphalian sovereign territory characterise East Asian borderlands. These articles persuasively illustrate how the ‘contextual theorisation’ of borders in East Asia becomes possible by identifying the common aspects shared by their cases. I conclude that bringing in a regional or trans-border/local framework for border studies can deepen our understanding of borders and borderlands and guide us in a better direction of research and practice.