LSESU EAST ASIA FORUM 2019

PANEL 1. ECONOMY: “East Asia with AIIB and BRI: Opportunities or Risks?”

Speakers: Ms. Natalie Lichtenstein, Dr. Shirley Yu, Prof. Kerry Brown

1. Why did China create the AIIB?

– What is unique about the AIIB compared to other MDBs, including the ADB?

– What are the Chinese strategic approaches to its establishment of the AIIB, and how the bank would disrupt the order of global development finance?

– What are the prospects of the internationalisation of Renminbi through AIIB?

2. Why did South Korea, one of the closest allies of the US, join the AIIB?

– What were the factors that affected Korea’s position during the eight months of reviewing its interest and stake in AIIB?

– Can South Korea’s New Economic Map be enhanced by China’s BRI, and vice versa?

– How should South Korea maintain an amicable relationship with both the US and China, in the context of cooperation for global development?

3. Would Japan, a strategic ally of the US and the most active state in the ADB, reconsider joining the AIIB?

– What is the implication of the recent meeting between leaders of China and Japan on the prospect of a deeper cooperation between the two countries?

– AIIB and ADB: are they in a rivalry or cohabitating, complementary relationship?

4. What are the implications of the AIIB and BRI in East Asia?

– How would the AIIB and BRI affect the East Asian economy and political, diplomatic engagement with other countries in the developmental context?

– How would the AIIB and BRI shape China’s political and economic position in East Asia and the broader world?

– What roles do other countries in East Asia play in AIIB and BRI? Can they really be a win-win solution for those countries? Should Japan join in the future, how can South Korea and Japan make contributions to gain benefits from AIIB and BRI?

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PANEL 2. NORTH KOREA: “Causes and Impacts of North Korea’s changed stance”

Speakers: Mr. Hamish Macdonald, Dr. Axel Berkofsky, Dr. Owen Miller

Moderator: Prof. Stephan Haggard

1. What are the foreign and domestic influences in North Korea that led to the change in North Korea’s attitude toward the international community?

– What are the key foreign influences?

– What are the key domestic influences?

2. To what extent North Korea’s changed attitude would affect the relationship between the two Koreas?

– How would the economy of the Korean Peninsula be reshaped through the cooperation?

– To what extent the strategic alliance between the US and South Korea would affect South Korea’s engagement with North Korea?

3. How would China respond to North Korea’s changed attitude, in the midst of a concern of containing the US influence and weakened tie with North Korea?

– What would be China’s stance to the recent development in North Korea issues: Will China welcome North Korea’s changed stance and help North Korea to be incorporated in the global community, or consider the stance as a threat undermining its security?

– How would China’s treatment of North Korean defectors in its territory be changed? If so, to what extent?

4. In retrospect of the past and prospect of the future, how would Japan’s relation with North Korea be developed?

– To what extent is the history of animosity holding Japan and North Korea back from the future of cooperation?

– Will the current “Japan Passing” will be continued? How the bilateral relationship between Japan and North Korea be progressed?

5. How would North Korea’s changed attitude facilitate vibrant economic cooperation within East Asia? To what extent would the cooperation drive the East Asian economy?

– Will the North Korea’s changed attitude enable the “3 plus X”, a new East Asian economic cooperation model proposed by China, to actually take place?

– How would North Korea’s participation promote trade and integration in East Asia, for example by building railways, connecting maritime networks and enacting interregional policies on economic activities?

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PANEL 3. HISTORY: “The Contested History: The Uncertain Path to Reconciliation”

Speakers: Dr. Daqing Yang, Dr. Deokhyo Choi, Mr. Andrew Levidis

Moderator: Prof. Kent Deng

1. Shared historical footage in East Asia: past, present, and future

– What are the territorial controversies within East Asia? What is the origin of these disputes?

– What is the legacy of Japanese militarism and colonialism in the past?

– How has the changing regional dynamics (i.e. the rise of China) made impact on the historical narratives of the past in the region?

– Can a path toward reconciliation be opened simply by clarifying historical facts? What further actions should be taken by the governments to push the path forward?

2. History education in China, Japan, and South Korea

– To what extent the characteristics of history education in China, Japan, and South Korea share similarity and difference?

– How is the history education in each country contributing to shaping these days’ disputes and controversies surrounding the key historical issues?

3. How do we define justice and injustice when speaking about the ‘history problem’ in East Asia?

– Who is responsible for the past, and how the problem, such as the comfort women, can be resolved in the onset of a broad range of cooperation in East Asia?

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KEYNOTE 1. ENVIRONMENT: “Climate Change in East Asia: Impacts and Policies”

Speaker: Ms. Julie Broussard

1. Impact of climate change on the environment in East Asia

– What are the major threats of climate change to water resources and flooding, coastal zones, agriculture, and heat waves?

– To what degree do the impacts of climate change differ in China, Japan and South Korea? What are the major problems in each country?

– How the effects of climate change in one country can radiate other neighbouring East Asian countries?

– What are the costs of climate change adaptation?

2. Measures to reduce and reverse the growth of carbon dioxide emissions in East Asia

– Is cooperation in East Asia necessary to reduce the growth of carbon dioxide emissions?

– What are the main aspects of low-carbon growth strategies in Northeast Asia?

– How market-approaches to cooperation in the region differ from and the non-market approaches (corporate vs government)? How should they be utilized to take measures to counter climate change more feasible and sustainable?

3. Current and potential policy response

– Are current environmental policies, including the intrastate and interstate policies, enough to tackle the threats of climate change in East Asia?

– If not, what policies can be potentially implemented to tackle them more efficiently?

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KEYNOTE 2. GENDER: “#Metoo Movement in East Asia”

Speaker: Mr. Tilman Altenburg

1. #Metoo Movement – How did #Metoo movement reverberate in South Korea, China and Japan?

– How was the movement regarded in East Asia in general in public discourse?

– What were the public sentiment towards the movement in each country?

2. Comparison between #Metoo Movement in the West and the East

– How did the movements in the East and West differ each other, in terms of scale and scope?

– What would be socioeconomic, cultural or institutional factors underlying the difference in the reverberation of the #Metoo Movement?

3. Comparison between #Metoo Movement in China, Japan and South Korea

– The movement has brought far greater attention in the media in South Korea compared to that in China and Japan: why did the movement face more challenges in Japan and China as compared to in South Korea?

4. Future prospect

– How will the movement progress in the future? Can the movement facilitate social changes in a bigger scale and be a starting step towards gender equality in East Asia?

– What measures have been introduced, both in the private and public sector, as a response to the movement? What further actions can be taken in the future?