October 13th, 2011

Possible new trends in caring for China's elderly

As lifestyles in China are changing, so too is the ability for people to care for their elderly family members at home. American healthcare companies are beginning to eye China as a potential market for senior residential facilities. Asia Health Policy Program director Karen Eggleston spoke with NPR about possible models for providing affordable, quality care for China's elderly.

• » NPR: U.S. assisted living model to be tried in China

Indonesia promotes its economic and political strengths

Indonesia is strategically positioning itself to play an even greater role in global economics and politics, particularly by promoting its stable political system and the opportunities for foreign investment there. Southeast Asia Forum director Donald Emmerson spoke recently with the Straits Times about the Indonesian government's strategy and about the global conditions favoring the country's growth.

• » Straits Times: Push to rebrand Indonesia as key global player

October 11th, 2011

In final year, President Lee Myung-bak should pave the way for the next administration

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's term will come to a close in December 2012 and a new administration will take office. What does this mean for the country's North Korea policy in the coming year? In an interview with the Korea Times, Gi-Wook Shin urges that Lee stay consistent with his current hard-line stance rather than adopt any new strategies before exiting.

• » Korea Daily

New Beginnings group releases annual U.S.-Korea recommendations to Obama administration

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to Washington, DC on October 13, and the two leaders traveled together to Detroit the following day to urge early approval of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) by both legislatures. On the eve of the visit, the New Beginnings policy study group released its annual report of recommendations on U.S.-Korea relations to the Obama administration. With U.S.-South Korean relations stronger than ever and with presidential elections scheduled in both countries late next year, the New Beginnings policy experts urged a steady course and a focus on implementation of current policies rather than new initiatives in the alliance or toward North Korea.

• » “New Beginnings” in the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Recommendations to the Obama Administration (October 2011)

October 6th, 2011

East Asia internships for students

The Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center and the Division of International, Comparative, and Area Studies are excited to offer highly qualified Stanford students an opportunity to extend classroom knowledge of East Asia to real-life working and cultural experiences through the East Asia Internship Program. Internship positions will cover a wide spectrum of business, non-profit, media, educational, medical, technology, and government activities.

• » East Asia Internship Program

Informing EU policymakers on Japan's experiences

The European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, recently invited professor of political science Phillip Lipscy to exchange views with European policymakers and present his research. The Directorate General of Enterprise and Industry sponsored Lipscy’s visit. Lipscy presented on lessons learned from Japan's experience in three areas: energy policy, financial crisis response, and fiscal retrenchment. He highlighted several practical policy solutions from Japan that the European Union should consider, such as the top runner program for energy efficiency. In addition, Lipscy warned that European policymakers should avoid repeating the mistakes of Japan's lost decade by responding to the Euro crisis quickly and decisively.

Japanese policymakers struggle over nuclear power question

Following March's triple disaster, Japanese policymakers are locked in a debate over nuclear power. Daniel Sneider, associate director for research at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, discusses the issues creating this political gridlock in the first op-ed of a two-part YaleGlobal series.

• » YaleGlobal: Japan in a Post 3/11 World, Part I

September 2nd, 2011

Opportunity for two junior scholars studying contemporary Asia

We are pleased to announce our annual call for the Walter H. Shorenstein Fellowship, which offers an exciting opportunity for two junior scholars to take part in the center’s research and publishing activities during the 2012–13 academic year. Application submission deadline is December 31, 2011.

• » Shorenstein Fellowships in Contemporary Asia

August 24th, 2011

Lipscy discusses global financial concerns

Political economist Phillip Lipscy spoke recently with Estrategia, a leading Chilean finance and business publication, about the politics of the financial crisis in the Euro Area, as well as what kind of implications it might have for the U.S. and Chinese economies. (Spanish-language interview)

• » Estrategia: U.S. weakness was expected, does not mean there will be another recession

August 22nd, 2011

Conference compares wartime experiences in Asia and Europe

While differences exist in the wartime circumstances and reconciliation processes of Europe and Asia, many valuable lessons can be gained through a study of the experiences on both continents. The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center facilitated a comparative dialogue on World War Two, bringing together 15 noted experts for the Colonialism, Collaboration, and Criminality conference, held June 16 to 17 at Stanford.
Read more »

August 16th, 2011

Volume takes multidimensional look at South Korean security

Beyond North Korea, co-edited by Byung Kwan Kim, Gi-Wook Shin, and David Straub, is the first in a new series of policy-related studies on contemporary South Korea sponsored by the Koret Foundation of San Francisco. In this volume, top American and Korean academics and officials offer a fresh and timely perspective on traditional and non-traditional threats to South Korea's security and provide authoritative advice for meeting them. The book is based on research findings from the first Koret conference, Enhancing South Korea's Security: The U.S. Alliance and Beyond, held March 2009.

• » Beyond North Korea: Future Challenges to South Korea's Security

Two scholars consider the role of the humanities in Southeast Asia

Former FSI-Stanford Humanities Center International Visitors Thitinan Pongsudhirak (Thailand) and Anies Baswedan (Indonesia), both leading academics in their respective countries, recently considered the role of the humanities and the "hard" sciences in contemporary Southeast Asia. During an interview with SEAF director Donald K. Emmerson, Baswedan described the historically strong humanities foundation in Indonesia and the country's need to develop fields such as engineering.
Read more »

August 9th, 2011

Kohrman's ground-breaking study of cigarette warning labels

What influence might graphic warning labels have on cigarette sales? Matthew Kohrman is studying that question with experimental methods in Southwest China. Kohrman’s research is generating much-needed data in support of the expansion of China’s warning label system. Among the countries increasingly adopting graphic labels, the United States will require visual warnings on all cigarette packages by next fall.

Stanford Cancer Center News: Smoking cessation in a land of two trillion cigarettes

Kushida named Takahashi Research Associate

In July, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Shorenstein APARC named Stanford alumnus Kenji Kushida as its Takahashi Research Associate in Japanese Studies. Read more »

August 5th, 2011

Energy efficiency, financial crisis response, and Fukushima

Phillip Lipscy, an assistant professor of political science and a center fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, is currently conducting research on energy efficiency and financial crisis response. Here he discusses his recent research within the context of contemporary Japan, and comments on current social and political conditions in Japan after the March 2011 disaster. Read more »

August 2nd, 2011

Emmerson and Fingar meet with Indonesian president

Donald Emmerson, director of the Southeast Asia Forum, and Thomas Fingar, the Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, spoke at an international futurology conference in Jakarta on July 28. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with them and a small number of other noted experts the day before before the event. During his conference address, President Yudhoyono suggested with just a touch of levity that perhaps he might like to become a futurologist himself after his term concludes in 2014.

• » Jakarta Post: Yudhoyono foresees career as a futurologist

July 30th, 2011

Korean literature and culture position at Stanford

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford invites applications for a tenure-track position in Korean literature, film and culture at the rank of assistant professor to begin September 1, 2012. The Department seeks a dynamic scholar and experienced teacher who will contribute to the intellectual mission of a research institution. Read more »

July 22nd, 2011

Eggleston considers China's ability to adjust to demographic change

Can social, economic, and policy changes turn a period of growing old-age dependency into one of positive opportunity and growth in China? Qiong Zhang and Asia Health Policy Program director Karen Eggleston explore this challenging question in a recent China Brief article. They look back into several decades of China's history and also consider the current demographic picture of one-child families, gender imbalance, declining fertility rates, and a healthy and prosperous aging population.

• » China Brief: Aging economics: China's population imbalance

July 13th, 2011

Andrew Walder discusses China's political "holding strategy"

China's Soviet-style political system has not kept pace with the dramatic changes taking place within the country's social and economic systems, suggests Andrew Walder in a recent Boston Review op-ed. Keeping the lessons of the former Soviet Union in mind, he says, China's government has instead utilized a "holding strategy" to maintain its political institutions over the past twenty years.

• » Boston Review: Holding strategy

July 8th, 2011

Center responds to Japan's recent challenges, reaffirms ties

It is too soon to know the full domestic and global impact of the March 11 Great Tohoku Earthquake and its ensuing tsunami and nuclear accident. Since news of the earthquake broke, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, which has deep, longstanding ties to Japan, has closely followed and responded to this ongoing situation. Read more »

July 7th, 2011

Farmers in rural China struggling to survive, Scott Rozelle comments

Two-hundred million farming households in China are struggling to capitalize on their nation's breathtaking economic development. While city dwellers are enjoying fast-rising living standards, much of rural China remains a hardscrabble landscape where average incomes of about $3,200 a year are less than a third of what they are in urban areas. "No one is going to get rich off farming," said Scott Rozelle, an expert on China's rural economy at Stanford University. "It's not going to happen until farm sizes get bigger. That's why millions of people are moving to the cities."

• » Los Angeles Times article - Farming in China: Amid China's economic transformation, many farmers struggle

Emmerson examines strategic importance of Indian Ocean region

Despite the significance of Southeast Asia, India, and Australia, they are often overlooked in economic analyses of Asia. SEAF director Donald Emmerson took part in a Pacific Pension Institute roundtable event, July 13-15, focusing on the economic potential of this "southern rim." He opened the conference by reviewing the historical and social diversity of these countries and assessing the extent to which that diversity is an asset or a liability for economic growth, political stability, and democratic reform.

• » Pacific Pension Institute: From Asia's Southern Rim

June 30th, 2011

Top security experts explore Korean Peninsula situation and policies

The sixth Korea-U.S. West Coast Strategic Forum, held June 2011 at the Walter. H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, provided an arena for informed, policy-oriented discussion of major peninsular and regional issues impacting South Korea and the United States. The executive summary from this event is now available. Read more »

June 24th, 2011

Assessing U.S.-DPRK educational exchanges

Although there are no formal diplomatic relations between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, nonetheless there have been constant attempts by U.S. academia, friendship organizations, and NGOs to develop and promote educational interaction and exchanges between the citizens of these two countries. Drawing from a conference that took place at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center in November 2010, a newly published downloadable book and a related article by Karin J. Lee and Gi-Wook Shin in 38 North provide an insightful analysis of past educational exchanges and offer suggestions for the future.

• » U.S.-DPRK Educational Exchanges: Assessment and Future Strategy
• » 38 North: U.S.-DPRK educational exchanges: Status and future prospects

June 23rd, 2011

Joon-woo Park, 2011-2012 Koret Fellow, to explore South Korean foreign policy

In September, Joon-woo Park, a former senior diplomat from Korea, will join the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center as the program's 2011-2012 Koret Fellow. Read more »