Archives & Recordings – Page 23 – Sigur Center for Asian Studies

11/7/18: US Post-war Settlement with Japan: The Korean Perspective

October 25, 2018July 9, 2021Archives & Recordings, Visiting Scholar RoundtablesLeave a Comment

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Room 505
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

satellite view of japan and korea

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the GW Institute for Korean Studies invite you to a discussion with Dr. Woondo Choi – currently a Visiting Scholar with the Sigur Center – to discuss Korean strategic and historical perspectives regarding the US-Japan post-war settlement.

Light refreshments will be available. This event is public and open to the media.

About the Event:

In several aspects, the Korea-Japan friendship is constrained by the mutual lack of confidence whose root originates from the history. This relationship breeds negative impacts on the tri-lateral cooperation among the US, Korea and Japan. Understanding the beginning of the US-Japan relationship would make current Japanese foreign policy more transparent, deepen the historical reconciliation between Japan and Korea, and provide clues for the US role in improving the relationship between the two allied partners. For that purpose, we will look into the three frequently-mentioned factors in the US Post-war settlement with Japan: 1) strategic interests, 2) decision-making participants’ view on Japan and 3) safety assurances vis-a-vis Japan’s military resurgence. This research will deal with the period starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor until the end of the Occupation and San Francisco Peace Treaty.

About the Speaker:

Woondo Choi is a research fellow at the Institute of Korea-Japan Relations at Northeast Asian History Foundation, Seoul, Korea, at which he has been working since 2008. He received his B.A. from Yonsei University in 1987 and Ph.D. from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1997. For 1 year between 2011 and 2012, he stayed in Japan as a Visiting Professor, at Nagasaki University, Japan, and in 2018, at the Sigur Center of the George Washington University as a Visiting Scholar. He has published more than 50 articles and book chapters on Japanese foreign policy, US-Japan security relations, territorial disputes, and historical reconciliation. His recent works include “East Asian Community, the Japanese Policy Suggestion: Tracking the Changes in Japan’s Regional Perception.” (2012), “Japan’s Right for Self-Defense: Concept, Interpretation, and Constitutional Revision” (2013) “Abe’s Visit to Yasukuni Shrine and the Impact on East Asian Regional Security” (2014.), “Korean Independence and 70 Years Thereafter: Japanese Colonial Rule and Post-War Settlement” (2015).

Moderated by:

Benjamin D. Hopkins – Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies; Associate Professor of History and International Affairs

flyer for economic development in Africa event

11/2/18: Economic Development in Africa under the Belt & Road Initiative

October 24, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

11/27/18 The Tondu Question: Understanding Taiwanese Preferences on Determining National Future

October 23, 2018July 9, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Chung-wen Shih Conference Room – Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

collage of Trump, Tsai Ing-wen, and Xi Jinping

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies cordially invites you to a discussion with Mr. Fang Yu Chen – a Non-Resident Scholar affiliated with the Sigur Center – to discuss Taiwanese views regarding national future and to explore government responses to these views.

Light refreshments will be available. This event is public and open to the media.

About the Event:

With the dynamic shifts and changes in the U.S.-China relationship, Taiwan has been thrust in the spotlight of international politics. On the one hand, China is increasingly mounting pressure on governments and private corporations to adhere to its “One China Principle.” On the other hand, preserving Taiwan’s democracy and freedom have been identified as important elements to U.S. policy and values, as outlined in U.S. National Security Strategy and echoed by recent remarks made by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

However, how do the Taiwanese view China’s One China Principle and, conversely, the “One China policy” of the United States? What are citizen preferences on determining national future, whether it be independence, unification, or maintenance of the status quo? Although Taiwanese identity has been a growing force within Taiwan politics, support for “Taiwan independence” may seem to be waning. What does “maintaining status quo” fully mean and imply, given that this selection is a popular recurring option in surveys on the subject?

In fact, there are various interpretations of “status quo” and even multiple meanings of Taiwan independence. Using a recently collected dataset based on a new approach of measurements, this talk aims to disentangle the varieties of Tondu (統獨, unification/independence) – illustrating the propositions of different types of pro-independence, pro-unification, and status quo; and estimate the proportions of each category in public opinion. The talk will also discuss how the tondu preferences influence the results of the local elections in Taiwan, especially the rise (and fall?) of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je.

About the Speaker:

Picture of Fang Yu Chen in professional attire Mr. Fang Yu Chen is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Michigan State University. His research interests include authoritarian politics, political behaviors, inequality, and nationalism. Mr. Chen’s dissertation topic is “Ruling Party Institutionalization in East Asian Authoritarian Regimes,” in which he will compare former dictators’ ruling parties in Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Since 2014, he became the co-founder and co-editor of the website “Who Governs TW,” which aims to become a Mandarin version of the Monkey Cage. Currently, he lives in the DC area.

orange book cover with Mughal painting; text: Mughal Occidentalism by Mika Natif

11/29/18 Book Launch: Mughal Occidentalism

October 18, 2018May 14, 2021Archives & Recordings, New Books in Asian StudiesLeave a Comment

Thursday, November 29, 2018 5:00 PM

Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503 | 1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

book cover of Mughal Occidentalism

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the Institute for Middle East Studies cordially invite you to a book launch of Mughal Occidentalism and a discussion with the author.

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Book:

In Mughal Occidentalism, Mika Natif elucidates the meaningful and complex ways in which Mughal artists engaged with European art and techniques from the 1580s-1630s. Using visual and textual sources, this book argues that artists repurposed Christian and Renaissance visual idioms to embody themes from classical Persian literature and represent Mughal policy, ideology and dynastic history. A reevaluation of illustrated manuscripts and album paintings incorporating landscape scenery, portraiture, and European objects demonstrates that the appropriation of European elements was highly motivated by Mughal concerns. This book aims to establish a better understanding of cross-cultural exchange from the Mughal perspective by emphasizing the agency of local artists active in the workshops of Emperors Akbar and Jahangir.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Mika Natif (Ph.D., New York University – Institute of Fine Arts, 2006) is a historian of Medieval art focusing on the intercultural exchanges and global connections that Muslim societies forged with the European sphere in the pre-Modern era. Her primary field of research is Islamic painting, with special interest in Central Asia, Iran, India, and the Mediterranean. She had held teaching positions at Princeton University and at the College of the Holy Cross (MA), and curatorial positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and most recently at the Harvard Art Museums (as Assistant Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art). She has conducted research in archives, galleries and museums all over Europe, as well as Turkey, Israel, and India.

poster for film screening; text: Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn Film Screening & Discussions with Directors

11/19/18 Film Screening & Discussion: Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn

October 18, 2018July 13, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Monday, November 19, 2018 6:00 PM – 8:40 PM

Lindner Family Commons Suite 602
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

flyer for Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn event

The American University School of Communications Departments of Literature, of Anthropology, and of Sociology, the George Washington University Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the Departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies cordially invite you to a film screening and discussion of Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn, with featuring panelists Jingru Wu and Teri Silvio who worked on the production of the film as well as Assistant Professors Li (Lily) Wong of American University and Assistant Professor Liana Chen of the George Washington University.

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Event:

The documentary couplet Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn shot by migrant worker activists in Taiwan, follows a group of Filipina migrant worker organizers and their tumultuous same-sex love relationships. The films bring together migrant labor activism with queer love to unpack the multi-layered texture of our globalized moment.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring the directors of the movie, Jingru Wu and Teri Silvio.

About the Speakers:

Jingru Wu is a long-time labor activist and a researcher at the Taiwan International Workers’ Association. Together with Susan Chen she has shot the two documentaries.

Teri Silvio is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. She has served as interviewer, translator, and member of the production team for the documentary films, Lesbian Factory and Rainbow Popcorn.

black and white photo of Lily Wong

Li (Lily) Wong received her PhD in Comparative Literature at University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the politics of affect/emotion, gender/sexuality, comparative race, as well as media formations of transpacific Chinese, Sinophone, and Asian American communities. Her work can be found in journals including American Quarterly, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Asian Cinema, Asian American Literary Review, Pacific Affairs and China Review International, among others. She has published book chapters in World Cinema and the Visual Arts (Anthem Press, 2012), Queer Sinophone Cultures (Routledge, 2013), and Divided Lenses: War and Film Memory in Asia (University of Hawai’i Press, 2016). She is the author of the book “Transpacific Attachments: Sex Work, Media Networks, and Affective Histories of Chineseness” (Columbia University Press, 2018).

headshot of Liana Chen with a flower

Liana Chen is an assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and director of the Chinese Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she is affiliated with the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and teaches courses on traditional and modern Chinese fiction and drama, film, and women writers.

book cover with a Chinese government building and guards standing outside; text: Foreign Relations of the PRC by Robert G. Sutter

11/14/18 Xi Jinping’s Foreign Policy Vision—Powerful Image versus Restricted Reality

October 18, 2018July 13, 2021Archives & Recordings, New Books in Asian StudiesLeave a Comment

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Lindner Family Commons Suite 602
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

Book cover of Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the Elliott School Book Launch Series cordially invite you to a book launch and discussion of Professor Robert Sutter’s book Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China International Politics since 1949, Second Edition.

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Event:

The United States is carrying out the most substantial reevaluation of policy toward China in 50 years, anticipating intensive competition and challenges in the period ahead. Against that background, realistic assessments of China’s power and influence and their implications for the United States provide the basis for sound judgments as Americans and others assess China’s rise. Based on work in his newly published, Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China International Politics since 1949, Second Edition, Sutter will offer a balanced assessment of the strengths and limitations of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy achievements and ambitions in his second term. The findings show that despite enormous publicity in China hailing the confidence and foreign policy successes of its authoritarian leader, serious constraints confound Beijing’s ambitions, with broad ranging, unexpected pushback from the Trump administration heading the list of major impediments for which China has no easy answer.

About the Speaker:

Robert Sutter is Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University beginning in 2011. He also serves as the school’s Director, Program of Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs.

A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, Sutter taught full time for ten years at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and part-time for thirty years at Georgetown, George Washington, Johns Hopkins Universities, or the University of Virginia. He has published 21 books, over 200 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent books are: Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China’s International Politics since 1949 (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); US-China Relations: Perilous Past, Uncertain Present (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy Since the Cold War (Rowman & Littlefield 2016); The United States and Asia; Regional Dynamics and 21st Century Relations (Rowman & Littlefield 2015).

Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) focused on Asian and Pacific affairs and US foreign policy. He was the Director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the US National Intelligence Council, the China Division Director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Flyer for 11th Annual Conference on US-China Economic Relations

10/26/18: 11th Annual Conference on US-China Economic Relations and China’s Economic Development

October 12, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Flyer for 11th Annual Conference on US-China Economic Relations

Friday, October 26, 2018
8:15 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Commons, 6th Floor
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

We are delighted to invite you to the 11th annual conference on China’s Economic Development and U.S.-China Economic Relations at George Washington University. The importance of understanding China’s economic development has only become more important over the last decade. Understanding the structural building blocks of domestic Chinese economic activity is as necessary as understanding China’s foreign economic activity, whether regionally across the globe or in its interactions with the United States. Amid a trade war between the U.S. and China, it is vital that we have a shared understanding of what is taking place within the Chinese economy, how that affects relations with the U.S., and what it means for China’s global ambitions. We look forward to hosting you on October 26th to continue studying these important questions.

Schedule:

8:15 – 8:50 a.m. Coffee and Registration

8:50 – 9 a.m. Welcoming Remarks: Maggie Chen (IIEP Director, George Washington University)

9 – 9:45 a.m. Keynote

Hanming Fang, University of Pennsylvania
“Growing Pains” in the Chinese Social Security System

9:45 – 10:45 a.m. Trends in China’s Macro Economy

Kaiji Chen, Emory University
“Macroeconomic Impacts of China’s Financial Policies”
Nancy Qian, Northwestern University
“The Dynamic Effects of Computerization on VAT in China”

10:45 – 11 a.m. Coffee Break

11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Institutional and Firm Growth

Grace Li, International Monetary Fund
“The State and China’s Productivity Declaration: Firm-Level Evidence”
Maggie Chen, George Washington University
“‘Omnia Juncta in Uno’: Foreign Powers, Institutions and Firms in Shanghai’s Concession Era”

12 – 1 p.m. Lunch

1 – 1:45 p.m. Keynote

Caroline Freund, World Bank
“U.S.-China Trade Tensions”

1:45 – 2:45 p.m. The Myths of U.S.-China Trade War

Jiandong Ju, Tsinghua University
“US-China Trade Dispute and Restructuring the Globalization”
Mary Lovely, Peterson Institute for International Economics
“China’s Techno-Industrial FDI Policy”

2:45 – 3 p.m. Coffee Break

3 – 4 p.m. Going Out: China’s Aid, Investment, and Finance to Developing Countries

Barbara Stallings, Brown University and George Washington University
“China and its Neighbors: Aid and Investment in East Asia”
Stephen Kaplan, George Washington University
“The Rise of Patient Capital: The Political Economy of Chinese Finance in the Western Hemisphere”

4 – 5 p.m. Gender, Migration, and Labor Markets in China

Peter Kuhn, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Gender-Targeted Job Ads in the Recruitment Process: Evidence from China”
Sugin Ge, Virginia Tech
“Assimilation and the Wage Growth of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China”

10/25/2018: Sigur Center Summer Language Fellow Roundtable

October 9, 2018July 13, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, October 25, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

boat in the middle of a river

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to a roundtable discussion with the 2018 Sigur Center summer language fellows to talk about their study abroad experiences in Asia! This event is open to the public and media.

Topics for Discussion:

Language Study in Taiwan

Language Study in Indonesia

The audio recordings for this event can now be found below:

Roundtable Part 2

Roundtable Part 3

Speakers:

Alexander Bierman is a M.A. candidate in Security Policy Studies focusing on East Asian security and cyber security. His interests include U.S. policy towards East Asia, Cross-Strait policy, and Chinese politics.

headshot of Amoz JY Hor in polo shirt Amoz JY Hor is a PhD student in Political Science at the George Washington University. His research explores how emotions affect the way the subaltern is understood in practices of humanitarianism.

photo of Chloe King scuba diving Chloe King is a rising senior in the Elliot School, majoring in international affairs with minors in sustainability and geographic information systems. She spent seven months in Indonesia in 2017 as a Boren Scholar, researching NGO conservation initiatives in marine ecotourism destinations around the country. A PADI Divemaster, her passion for protecting the ocean keeps pulling her back to Indonesia and some of the most diverse—and threatened—marine ecosystems in the world.

Alexandra Wong with hand on chin Alexandra Wong was a Sigur Center 2018 Asian Language Fellow who studied Mandarin in Taipei, Taiwan at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center. Lexi is currently a second-year graduate student at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where she is studying International Affairs with a regional concentration on Asia.

flyer for The Past in Asia's Present with old Chinese painting in the background with black background

10/11/18: The Past in Asia’s Present: Rethinking Inner and East Asian International Relations

October 8, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, October 11, 2018

12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Chung-wen Shih Conference Room, Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

Flyer image for the Past in Asia's present event

About the Event:

The Research Initiative on Multination States and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to a discussion with Professor Michael van Walt van Praag about the topic, “The Past in Asia’s Present: Rethinking Inner and East Asian International Relations.”

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Speaker:

heashot of Michael van Walt in outdoor clothes Michael van Walt is a mediator and advisor in intrastate peace processes, an advocate for rights of peoples and minorities and a professor of international law and international relations. He has made his passion for the need to alleviate suffering caused by injustice, violent conflict and oppression his life-long career.

Michael has facilitated peace processes and advised parties engaged in such processes in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific and the Caucasus. He is an international lawyer by training and served as UN Senior Legal Advisor to the Foreign Minister of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, during the country’s transition to independence as part of UNTAET. He was appointed Visiting Professor of Modern International Relations and International Law at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he served on the faculty of the School for Historical Studies from 2011-2015. From 1991 to 1998 Michael served as General Secretary of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, headquartered in The Hague. Previously he practiced law, including public international law, with the law offices of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington D.C. and London (now known as Wilmer-Hale) and of Pettit & Martin in San Francisco.

Michael graduated in law from the University of Utrecht, where he also obtained his doctoral degree in Public International Law, and he has held visiting teaching and research positions at Stanford, UCLA, Indiana, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Golden Gate University School of Law, and the Università di Roma Sapienza. He has authored and edited books and articles on a variety of topics related to intrastate conflict and to relations of peoples and minorities with states, including Mobilizing Knowledge for Post-Conflict Development at the Local Level (The Hague: RAWOO 2000); The Implementation of the Right to Self-Determination as a Contribution to Conflict Prevention (Barcelona: UNESCO Division of Human Rights, Democracy and Peace/UNESCO Centre of Catalonia 1999); ‘The Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People: an explanatory introduction to the Tibetan proposal’ in Multinational Integration, Cultural Identity and Regional Self-Government: Comparative Experiences for Tibet (R. Toniatti and J. Woelk eds., London: Routledge 2014).

10/10/18: Tibet’s Economy in a Time of Trade War Babble: Locating the Economics of Tibet in Chinese Development Strategies and US-China Trade Relations

October 8, 2018July 14, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Wednesday, October 10, 2018 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Lindner Family Commons Suite 602
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

Yangbajing geothermal power station in Tibet

Yangbajing geothermal power station in Tibet

About the Event:

The Tibet Governance Lab and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to a public seminar and discussion with Professor Andrew Fischer about the implications of the U.S.-China trade war for Tibet.

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Andrew M. Fischer is Associate Professor of Social Policy and Development Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), and laureate of the European Research Council Starting Grant, which he won in the 2014 round. He is also the founding editor of the book series of the UK and Ireland Development Studies Association, published by Oxford University Press, entitled Critical Frontiers of International Development Studies, and editor at the journal Development and Change. His forthcoming book, Poverty as Ideology, won the 2015 International Studies in Poverty Prize, awarded by the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP).

Dr. Fischer’s research and teaching are centrally concerned with the role of redistribution in development at local, regional and global scales. He examines this with respect to three strands: financial and fiscal processes; social policy (as one of the principle policy areas where redistribution is enacted at national scales); and productive development policy. These three strands are represented, for instance, by his current ERC Starting Grant is on “The Political Economy of Externally Financing Social Policy in Developing Countries,” which focuses on the emerging social protection agenda among donors in seven countries (Ecuador, Paraguay, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zambia, Cambodia and Philippines). His earlier work on the impact of Chinese regional development policies in the Tibetan areas of Western China (encompassing five provinces) also examined regional redistribution at a sub-national scale, in particular with respect to some of the dark sides of redistribution, and is well known for its critical engagement with concepts of social exclusion and marginalization.

At ISS, Dr. Fischer led the establishment of the MA major in Social Policy for Development, which he convened from 2012 to 2014. He also convened the specialization in Poverty Studies and Policy Analysis from 2009 to 2012. He has worked with and advised various multilateral agencies and NGOs, including UNRISD, UNW, UNDP, UNICEF, UNECOSOC, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, and he has been involved in development studies or working in developing countries for 30 years, including seven years living and working in India and Nepal prior to his PhD at the London School of Economics.