Modern Social Science Research

Northeast Asia, as a key geopolitical region, is crucial for regional stability and prosperity. This article systematically analyzes the existing multilateral cooperation mechanisms in Northeast Asia and evaluates their effectiveness, revealing structural challenges such as lack of security mutual trust, historical disputes, uneven economic development, and external intervention. Based on the theories of functionalism and new regionalism, this study proposes an innovative path to construct a multilateral cooperation mechanism, emphasizing the gradual accumulation of mutual trust through "functional cooperation" and the use of the flexible and inclusive nature of "open regionalism" to overcome the limitations of traditional models. Specific suggestions include establishing a Northeast Asia energy community, building a digital cooperation framework, establishing sub regional demonstration zones, and creating a new security dialogue platform as multi-level institutional innovations. The research results indicate that adopting strategies such as decoupling issues, dual track parallelism, and early harvest plans can reduce cooperation barriers, cultivate regional mutual trust, and ultimately achieve a positive interaction between economic cooperation and security cooperation. This study provides theoretical support and practical reference for solving the cooperation dilemma in Northeast Asia, and has important enlightening value for promoting the modernization of regional governance system.

Northeast Asia regional cooperation; Multilateral institutional innovation; Functionalist theory; New regionalism; Security dilemma; Economic integration