Democratization in Asia: Lessons from Thailand’s Crisis

Asia Report #32 | May 2015

Thailand’s socioeconomic development since the 1980s has changed the political demography of Thailand, leading to the rise of a new class that demands more political participation. Yet, the existing political system is resisting this change. What does this clash between society and political system indicate for potential change in Thailand? Is it a setback or a progress for the country’s democracy? These questions were addressed at the 19th Annual Gaston Sigur Memorial Lecture on “Democratization in Asia and the Intellectuals: Lessons from Thailand’s Crisis,” by Thongchai Winichakul, Professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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China’s Currency Internationalization: Domestic Debates and International Destiny

Asia Report #29 | March 2015

China’s growing weight in the global economy has intensified debate on the potential international role of its currency, the renmenbi (RMB). What are the motives behind RMB internationalization? Who are the actors shaping the debate on Chinese monetary policy? How likely is the RMB to replace the U.S. dollar in the current global currency hierarchy? Injoo Sohn, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong, addressed these questions in a presentation on “China’s Monetary Ambition: Renmenbi Internationalization in Comparative Perspective” at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies on February 26.

Read the full report for “China’s Currency Internationalization: Domestic Debates and International Destiny” (PDF)

The Internet, Political Participation, and Governance Reform in China

Asia Report #28 | December 2014

With China’s rise and growth of Internet usage in China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has looked to the Internet as a means of receiving citizen feedback as it modernizes its policymaking processes. How has the CCP utilized the Internet to elicit citizen opinions and feedback on its policies? One study conducted by Steven Balla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs at the George Washington University, aims to generalize the findings of the consultation and feedback mechanisms used in China’s 2008 healthcare reforms and apply these feedback mechanisms to other cases of online consultation in China. His findings were summarized at an event held this semester at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Balla’s case study of governance reform and Internet political participation helps us examine the future of the CCP as it experiments with online consultation as an instrument of governance reform. Rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach of predicting revolution or repression in China’s future, the study focuses on what happens between those two extremes vis-à-vis a gradual evolution of policymaking

Read the full report for “The Internet, Political Participation, and Governance Reform in China” (PDF)

Contestation and Adaptation: The Politics of National Identity in China

Asia Report #26 | May 2014

As an ethnically heterogeneous country, China faces a unique challenge in its nation building efforts: establishing a unified Chinese national identity that satisfies both the Han Chinese majority and China’s various ethnic minority groups. Thus far the results of these efforts have been mixed: while most of China’s 55 ethnic minority groups have assimilated into a “Chinese” national identity, other minority groups, most notably the Tibetans and Uighurs, have forcefully contested the idea of Chinese national identity on multiple occasions. Why do some ethnic groups mobilize national identity contestation while others do not?

Read the full report for “Contestation and Adaptation: The Politics of National Identity in China” (PDF)

Beyond Competition: Anomalies in How States React to a Rising China

Asia Report #27 | May 2014

As China’s influence on geopolitics, energy markets, trade, and the global financial system continues to expand, conventional wisdom might predict growing resistance from Beijing’s wary neighbors. The Realist school of thought points to regional territorial disputes and economic rows as evidence of unavoidable competition in the face of a rising China. However, there are several key variances in how countries have responded to this challenge. This Asia Report explores a seminar hosted by the Rising Powers Initiative on May 7, 2014 where Asia’s Economic Challenges project scholars presented their findings on Asian overseas oil investment, responses to China’s growing solar exports, understanding China’s evolving monetary policies, and the complex India-China relationship.

Read the full report for “Beyond Competition: Anomalies in How States React to a Rising China” (PDF)

Conflict in the Face of Cooperation: Exploring the Complexity of Chinese Policy in East Asia

Asia Report #25 | April 2014

What explains escalating tensions between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea over the past several years? Is conflict inevitable as a rising China seeks to protect its national interests or will global trade and international organizations ensure peaceful economic cooperation throughout East Asia? These pressing questions were the subject of a recent lecture – Rocky Rise: China’s East Asia Policy (2009-Present) – sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Dr. Nicholas Khoo, senior lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Otago in New Zealand, shared insights he gained through interviews with Chinese academics and analysts conducted in Beijing last year on the increasing complexity and direction of China’s regional policy.

In this Asia Report, we present Dr. Khoo’s views on debates over Chinese foreign policy, his understanding of Beijing’s recent actions, and his recommendations for U.S. policymakers. Read the full report for “Conflict in the Face of Cooperation: Exploring the Complexity of Chinese Policy in East Asia” (PDF).

China’s Twin Paradoxes: Rapid Growth and Rising Corruption

Asia Report #19 | April 2013

According to conventional wisdom, rising corruption reduces economic growth. And yet, between 1978 and 2010, even as officials were looting state coffers, extorting bribes, raking in kickbacks, and scraping off rents at unprecedented rates, the Chinese economy grew at an average annual rate of 9 percent. This paradoxical trend was the subject of a lecture – China: Rapid Growth and Rising Corruption in China – in the Rising Power Initiative’s Asian Economic Challenges series. Andrew Wedeman, professor of political science at Georgia State University, was on hand to talk about his recent book Double Paradox: Rapid Growth and Rising Corruption in China and why the Chinese economy performed so well despite widespread corruption at almost kleptocratic levels.

Read the full report for “China’s Twin Paradoxes: Rapid Growth and Rising Corruption” (PDF).

Listen to the event’s audio (MP3).

Examining Violence Against Women in India: Changes, Challenges, and Futures

Asia Report #20 | May 2013

The Delhi gang-rape and subsequent death of medical student Jyoti Singh Pandey in December 2012 sparked an unprecedented discussion on violence against women in India. While sexual violence against women is a long-standing issue in India, relentless media coverage of this particular incident has elevated the conversation to both the national and international level. At a discussion on “Examining Violence Against Women in India: Changes, Challenges and Futures” convened by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies’ Rising Powers Initiative on April 12, 2013, panelists outlined the socio-cultural and economic factors perpetuating sexual violence in India and highlighted opportunities for moving forward on the issue.

Participants included:

  • Kavita Daiya, Associate Professor, Department of English, GW
  • Deepa Ollapally, Director, The Rising Powers Initiative, GW
  • Mary Ellsberg, Director, Global Women’s Institute, GW
  • Zain Lakhani, Graduate Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
  • Daniel Moshenberg, Director, Women’s Studies, Associate Professor of English, GW
  • Aruna Rao, Practitioner-in-Residence, Global Gender Program, Institute of Global and International Studies, GW

Read the full report for “Examining Violence Against Women in India: Changes, Challenges, and Futures” (PDF)

 

Reassessing Taiwan’s Strategic Position

Asia Report #17 | February 2013

Scott Bates, president of the Center for National Policy, has proposed a new national security policy for Taiwan entitled “Taiwan 21.” Mr. Bates discussed several elements of his “Taiwan 21” plan at a recent Taiwan Roundtable entitled “Reassessing Taiwan’s Strategic Position” held by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies on January 23, 2013. Discussant Joseph Bosco, a former East Asia security specialist at the Department of Defense, voiced strong disagreements with Bates’ proposals at the roundtable, while Richard Fisher, Senior Fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, submitted a written response in which he offers alternative recommendations for strengthening Taiwan’s security.

Read the full report for “Reassessing Taiwan’s Strategic Position” (PDF)

Taiwan and Asia Pacific Economic Integration: ECFA, TPP, and Beyond

Asia Report #14 | May 2012

The signing of The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a preferential trade agreement between the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) that aims to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between the two sides seems to have alleviated some concerns about Taiwanese economic integration. At the same time, the signing of ECFA has reopened the issue of broader economic integration in the region. Experts on Taiwan’s economic policies assembled for a conference on “Taiwan and Asia-Pacific Economic Integration” on April 30th at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies in an effort to explain Taiwan’s current economic integration efforts as well as future challenges that will likely accompany such developments.

Read the full report for “Taiwan and Asia Pacific Economic Integration: ECFA, TPP, and Beyond” (PDF)

The Okinawa Question and the US-Japan Alliance: Factoring in Japanese Domestic Politics and Debates

Asia Report #12 | November 2011

Since Yoshihiko Noda took office as Prime Minister of Japan two months ago, there appears to be some possibility that the United States and Japan will be able to make progress on the stalled issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa prefecture. However, even cautious optimism should be tempered by the reality of domestic politics in Japan and a thorough consideration of Japan’s overall strategic thinking.

Noda has made specific gestures expressing an intent to honor the U.S.-Japan agreement to relocate the Futenma base from densely populated Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago City in northeastern Okinawa, where a new on-shore facility would be built. To win political support from Okinawans, he announced in late September that his government would remove the conditions currently attached to development subsidies to the prefecture. In October, he told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that the government would submit an environmental impact assessment report to Okinawa prefecture by the end of this year, which would formally start a legal process whereby the Okinawa government is required to respond within 90 days. From Washington’s perspective, these moves may indicate some longawaited momentum on the Futenma issue.

This Asia Report is based on “The Okinawa Question: Regional Security, the US-Japan Alliance, and Futenma,” a conference held on September 19, 2011 at the Elliott School of International Affairs and co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and The Nansai Shoto Industrial Advancement. The event hosted a luncheon speech by Governor Hirokazu Nakaima of Okinawa Prefecture (click here for text and video) and featured the following experts: Akikazu Hashimoto, Llewelyn Hughes, Mike Mochizuki, Kazuhisa Ogawa, Michael O’Hanlon, Michael Swaine, Robert Sutter, Akio Takahara, Kurayoshi Takara.

Read the full report for “The Okinawa Question and the US-Japan Alliance” (PDF)

Evolving Cross-Strait Relations and Challenges and Implications for the U.S.

Asia Report #11 | September 2011

Recent developments across the Taiwan Strait have important implications for the future of U.S.-China relations as well as America’s strategic and economic interests in the larger Asian region. While political stability in the cross-strait relationship over the past few years has been welcomed by U.S. policymakers, it has not alleviated concerns about China’s increasing military strength and territorial ambitions. Likewise, although the signing of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China is seen as a positive sign of cross-strait stability, some analysts raise questions about what it means for U.S. economic clout in the region. These issues have been discussed at a number of recent events organized by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and are highlighted in this edition of the Asia Report.

Read the full report for “Evolving Cross-Strait Relations and Challenges and Implications for the U.S.” (PDF)

After the 3/11 Catastrophe: Whither the Japanese Peace State?

Asia Report #10 | June 2011

Over the past several years, foreign policy circles both inside and outside Japan have been anxious to determine whether Japan should or would develop new strategies to deal with a changing security environment in Asia. The catastrophic impact of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster has only heightened the sense of anxiety over Japan’s future direction. At a time of great uncertainty about Japan’s future and the implications for its foreign policy, one might instead look to Japan’s national identity for signs of continuity and consistency.

For decades, Japan’s outlook and external behavior have been shaped by its identity as a “peace state” – a pacifist state associated with the so-called Yoshida Doctrine of cheap riding on U.S.-provided security while concentrating on economic development. That identity runs deep in the Japanese outlook, acting as both a guiding compass and an ideological constraint on state behavior. As the scholar Richard Samuels describes it, an identity is “a platform of ideas about a nation’s place in history and its people’s aspirations for the future.” For Japan, its identity as a peace state means that it is “essentially a reactive or adaptive state” which is not interested in becoming a great military power.

This peace state identity has been consistently evoked in Japanese discourse and followed in practice, even as Japanese defense policy has seen increased debate and contestation in recent years, argued Mike M. Mochizuki at an April 14 Policy Briefing on “Identity and Rising Asian Powers: Implications for Regional Cooperation,” organized by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. The strengthening of Japan-US cooperation since the Persian Gulf War has emphasized nonviolence and “mutual aid,” as did their joint humanitarian operations after 3/11. Japan’s commitment to nuclear restraint, despite security threats such as North Korea’s nuclear test in October 2006, can also be attributed in part to the Japanese identity as a nonnuclear peace state. Even constitutional revision movements have had to couch their proposals in the language of the peace state.

More recently, the National Defense Policy Guidelines announced last December also emphasized peacemaking. Granted, some may cast doubt on the peace principle, citing Japan’s recent recalibration of its defense policy that has included an increase in mobility to protect its southwest islands from China, the shifting of a squadron to Okinawa, a decision to procure more submarines, and greater emphasis on intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. Nevertheless, as Mochizuki pointed out, all of this has remained within the narrative of the peace state identity, and Japan continues to adhere to a minimal defense capacity, forgoing offensive capabilities and insisting on the doctrine of no use of force, except in very restrictive self-defense purposes.

Read the full report for “After the 3/11 Catastrophe: Whither the Japanese Peace State?” (PDF)