The Fourth Zermatt Roundtable on Current Security Issues in the North Pacific Region gathered some twenty participants – high level experts and Government representatives – mostly from China, the U.S., Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Switzerland, on 15 and 16 September 2015 in the Alpine village of Zermatt, Switzerland. The international Roundtable is jointly organized by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP).

The purpose of the Roundtable is to facilitate open and substantive discussions among participants from key countries on the evolving security situation of the Northern Pacific and ways to promote stability in the region.

The first three rounds (2012, 2013 and 2014) were devoted to the multiple security challenges facing the region, the dynamics of the growing power competition and the impact of defense strategies on regional stability. The fourth round took place in the context of mounting tensions in the China Seas, the Russian “pivot” to Asia and China, the new security posture of Japan in the region, and nuclear threats from North Korea, and assessed the impact of these developments on the security environment and balance of power in Asia-Pacific.

The Roundtable was structured in five sessions on the following issues: developments and power shifts in the region; the territorial issues at sea; North Korean nuclear developments; cooperative security in East Asia; and confidence-building in non-traditional challenges.