International Conference on Creating an East Asian Community: Prospects and Challenges for Fresh Regional Cooperation

Event details
8 - 10 January 2004
Shaw Foundation Building (AS7), Seminar Rooms A, B & C
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore

In his speech in January 2002 in Singapore, Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged regional countries to ‘act together and advance together’, envisaging the creation of an East Asian community. This conference aims to explore and assess the prospects and challenges arising from greater regional cooperation towards the creation of an East Asian community by highlighting how a community in East Asia can be achieved, what problems it needs to overcome, and what areas and approaches it should address. As the creation of an East Asian community should be based upon political stability in the region, issues of political and security cooperation, in addition to economic cooperation, will need to be addressed. The symposium will thus focus on the following five aspects concerning East Asian cooperation:

  • Free Trade Agreements (FTAs);
  • Security and Defence issues;
  • Developmental Issues and Labour Immigration;
  • Roles of Regional Institutions; and
  • Financial and Monetary Cooperation.

Through a meeting of minds of scholars from ASEAN countries, Japan, China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, this symposium hopes to further promote international intellectual exchange and academic collaboration. Through addressing significant themes relating to East Asia and Southeast Asia, it also hopes to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS which will be most fitting as East Asian and Southeast Asian studies are among the major research and teaching foci of the FASS, NUS.

We very much look forward to your participation.

Conference convener
Takashi Terada

Programme

Thursday, 8 January 2004
Opening Session

0845 - 0910
Arrival of Guests

0910 - 0915
Opening Remarks by Assoc Prof. Tsu Yun Hui, Timothy (Head, Department of Japanese Studies, NUS)

0915 - 0925
Opening Remarks by Assoc Prof. Tan Tai Yong (Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS)

0925 - 1000
Keynote Speech by Guest of Honour Ambassador Kunihiko, Embassy of Japan

1000 - 1030
Tea Reception

Session 1: Free Trade Agreements

1030 - 1230

  • Prof. Shujiro Urata (Waseda University)
    The Emergence and Proliferation of FTAs in East Asia
  • Assoc Prof. Myrna Austria (De La Salle University, Manila)
    Strategies Towards an ASEAN Economic Community
  • Dr. Walter Hatch (Colby College)
    Japan's Agenda for Asian Regionalism: Industrial Harmonization, not Free Trade

Discussant: Dr. Teofilo Daquila (NUS)

Session 2: Security and Defence Issues

1400 - 1630

  • Ambassador Rawdon Dalrymple (University of Sydney)
    East Asian Security: Internal Coherence or External Balancer?
  • Dr. Christopher Hughes (University of Warwick)
    The US-Japan Alliance and the False Promises, Premises and Pretences of Multilateralism in East Asia
  • Dr. Sheng Li Jun (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore)
    The Security Implications of China-ASEAN FTA

Discussant: Assoc Prof. Lee Lai To (NUS)

Friday, 9 January 2004
Session 3: Developmental Issues and Labour Immigration

0930 - 1200

  • Prof. Medhi Krongkaew (National Institute of Development Administration, Thailand)
    Development Cooperation in APEC: Creating a New Paradigm?
  • Prof. Shoichi Ito (Kwansei Gakuin University)
    The Issues and Prospects of the International Migration in East Asia
  • Prof. Zhao Hong (Xiamen University)
    The Political Economy of the Sub-regional Economic Cooperation in East Asia

Discussant: Mr. Shinji Kaburagi (Japan Bank for International Cooperation)

Session 4: Role of Regional Institutions

1330 - 1600

  • Dr. Termsak Chalermpalanupap (ASEAN Secretariat)
    East Asian Community: The Challenges of Creative Ambiguity
  • Dr. Takashi Terada (NUS)
    Thorny Progress in the Institutionalization of ASEAN+3: A Deficient China-Japan Leadership and the ASEAN Divide

Discussant: Prof. Eiichi Shindo (Tsukuba University)

Saturday, 10 January 2004
Session 5: Financial and Monetary Cooperation

0930 - 1200

  • Prof. Akira Kohsaka (Osaka University)
    East Asian Financial Cooperation under Financial Integration: Considering a Fundamental Framework
  • Prof. Gordon de Brouwer (Australian National University)
    Financial, Monetary and Economic Cooperation in East Asia: Where We Are, Where We Want to Be, and How We Get There from Here
  • Dr. Jennifer A. Amyx (University of Pennsylvania)
    Political Dynamics of Regional Financial Cooperation in East Asia: A Comparative Perspective

Discussant: Dr. Eric Teo (Singapore Institute of International Affairs)

Closing Session

1200 - 1230

Registration

Registration fees (Inclusive of conference papers; 1 lunch and 2 teas for each day):

Normal Payment: S$100
Student Concession: S$30

Please make your payment in cash or cheque (payable to 'National University of Singapore') on the day of conference at the registration counter.

Please fill up this registration form to register for the conference.

How to get to there

Instructions on getting to NUS

Organisers

For more information, please contact Dr Takashi Terada (e-mail: jpstt@nus.edu.sg).

Conference Committee
Department of Japanese Studies
National University of Singapore
Block AS4, 9 Arts Link
Singapore 117570
Fax: (65) 6776 1409

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