Asia Program Conference and Webcast

Power in East Asia: What Is It? and Who Has It?

Sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Reserve Officers Association

Monday, January 25, 2010

Reserve Officers Association
One Constitution Avenue NE, Washington, DC

What types of power matter, and who has how much of it, in East Asia today and in the future? Has U.S. hard and soft power declined at least relatively and what are the consequences of the U.S.’s continued focus on other issues and the agenda of the Obama administration? What are the implications of China’s rising power and influence and its “charm offensive”? What do such developments portend for China’s cooperation and conflict with the U.S., Japan, and others? Where do Japan’s long-term economic troubles, long-debated constraints on its security role, a new government and a changing environment leave this major regional power? What are the consequences for smaller power, including Taiwan and Korea, of changes in their external environments? What do domestic developments in these lesser power in their foreign relations mean for greater powers and relations among them?

Topics and Speakers

Opening Remarks
Panel 1: China
Paper: Rising China's Military and Economic Power and the Emerging East Asian Security Order
Robert Ross, Professor of Political Science, Boston College
Commentators:
  • Drew Thompson, Director, China Studies, Nixon Center
  • Robert Sutter, Visiting Professor of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Moderator: Jacques deLisle, Director, FPRI Asia Program, and Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
Panel 2: Japan
Paper: Thomas Berge, Boston University
Japan in Asia: A Hard Case for Soft Power
Commentators:
  • Michael Auslin, Director of Japan Studies, American Enterprise Institute
  • Paul S. Giarra, President, Global Strategies and Transformation  
Keynote Address by The Hon. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Introduction by Jacques deLisle, Director, FPRI Asia Program

Panel 3: Korea, Taiwan, and the Challenges for Smaller States
Papers:

  • David Kang, Professor of International Relations and Business, University of Southern California
    Status and Leadership on the Korean Peninsula

  • Alan Wachman, Associate Professor of International Politics, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
    Suffering What They Must? Mongolia, Taiwan and the Limits of Independence 

Commentators:

Moderator: Mackubin T. Owens, Editor, Orbis

See also