Digital frontline of East Asia security regime

Northeast Asia is entering a period of profound strategic transformation. The region is no longer defined solely by military balances, territorial disputes or nuclear deterrence. Instead, it is increasingly shaped by the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), cyber capabilities, hybrid warfare, technological competition, energy security and shifting major-power alignments. The result is an emerging security architecture that is more complex, interconnected and unpredictable than at any point since the end of the Cold War. Recent diplomatic developments illustrate the speed of this transformation. U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed engagement with China's President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategic coordination with Beijing, and Xi’s outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un underscore how major-power politics continues to shape Northeast Asia. Yet the region’s future is not being determined only through summits and military posturing. Increasingly, the decisive battleground lies in cyberspace, technological innovation, AI governance, semicondu