Conclusion: Asia-Pacific resource politics from boom to bust?

Chapter 9 explores the future of resource politics of the Asia-Pacific. It begins by summarising the core findings of the study: that international resource conflicts are driven by domestic and international securitising pressures, which have been intensifying in the Asia-Pacific since the mid-2000s. It then explores how these dynamics are likely to develop in future years, particularly as the resource boom has begun to turn to ‘bust’ since 2014. While falling prices might notionally be expected to help ameliorate resource conflicts in coming years, the political-economy drivers of securitisation remain deep-rooted in the domestic politics of key regional players. While resource insecurity remains an existential problem for regional governments such as China, Japan and Korea, they will remain committed to conflictual economic nationalist policies. In many producer states, the securitisation of resources is as much to do with domestic regime security as movements in international prices, and will persist through the market downturn. For rising powers in the region – such as China and Russia – the intersection between geopolitical aspirations and resources make their future de-politicisation unlikely. Resource interdependence can be expected to contribute to conflict tendencies in the international politics of the Asia-Pacific for some years yet.