Zbigniew brzezinski

A TRANS-EURASIAN SECURITY SYSTEM 
The stability of Eurasia's geopolitical pluralism, precluding the appearance of a single dominant power, would 
be enhanced by the eventual emergence, perhaps sometime early in the next century, of a Trans-Eurasian 
Security System (TESS). Such a transcontinental security agreement should embrace an expanded NATO—
connected by a cooperative charter with Russia—and China as well as Japan (which would still be connected to 
the United States by the bilateral security treaty). But to get there, NATO must first expand, while engaging 
Russia in a larger regional framework of security cooperation. In addition, the Americans and Japanese must 
closely consult and collaborate in setting in motion a triangular political-security dialogue in the Far East that 
engages China. Three-way American-Japanese-Chinese security talks could eventually involve more Asian 
participants and later lead to a dialogue between them and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe. In turn, such a dialogue could pave the way for a series of conferences by all European and Asian 
states, thereby beginning the process of institutionalizing a transcontinental security system. 
In time, a more formal structure could begin to take shape, prompting the emergence of a Trans-Eurasian 
Security System that for the first time would span the entire continent. The shaping of that system—denning its 
substance and then institutionalizing it— could become the major architectural initiative of the next decade, 
once the policies outlined earlier have created the necessary preconditions. Such a broad transcontinental 
security framework could also contain a standing security committee, composed of the major Eurasian entities, 
in order to enhance TESS's ability to promote effective cooperation on issues critical to global stability. 
America, Europe, China, Japan, a confederated Russia, and India, as well as perhaps some other countries, 
might serve together as the core of such a more structured transcontinental system. The eventual emergence of 
TESS could gradually relieve America of some of its burdens, even while perpetuating its decisive role as 
Eurasia's stabilizer and arbitrator.