Showing papers in "East Asia in 2012"
TL;DR: The authors illustrates the links between China's nation building exercises and its efforts to promote the country as a "brand" by using the examples of the Shanghai Expo, China's national image films and the revival of Confucius.
Abstract: This paper illustrates the links between China’s nation building exercises and its efforts to promote the country as a ‘brand’. By using the examples of the Shanghai Expo, China’s national image films and the revival of Confucius, I show how Chinese soft power is both inward and outward looking. Understanding this dual role of soft power is important in comprehending the underlying motivations behind China’s attempts to create and manage its identity as orderly, prosperous and legitimate.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that in Vietnam religion is a powerful form of nation-building process and constitutes a creative space in which different actors exercise their agency beyond resistance and accommodation.
Abstract: As in China and Soviet Russia, religion in Vietnam was considered to be harmful superstition. However, a glimpse into the Governmental Gazette – Cong Bao – displays the important transformation of the state’s policy toward religion that became translated into national representation. While this article focuses on nation-building as a dynamic cultural process that leads to the promotion of selected religious practices as ‘national heritage,’ it also explores the state-society relationship beyond binaries. By looking at religious spaces and local communities I argue that in Vietnam religion is a powerful form of nation-building process and constitutes a creative space in which different actors exercise their agency beyond resistance and accommodation.
22 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that China's ostensibly unique development model is constrained by the modernization thinking underlying it and pointed out the dependence of China's dominant development thinking on the paradigm of modernization and its symbolic celebration in official discourse and public rituals.
Abstract: This article contributes to the debates on China’s socio-political transformations by tracing the link between China’s modernization and nationalism, and analysing their mutual interplay. Many recent studies discuss post-Mao China’s development as a unique model challenging earlier development approaches. Instead, the argument pursued here points to the dependence of China’s dominant development thinking on the paradigm of modernization and its symbolic celebration in official discourse and public rituals. By tracing the impact of the modernization paradigm in the influential annual publication China Modernization Report and in the 2009 National Day mass parade, the article shows how and what kind of Chinese nation is produced. I argue that China’s ostensibly unique development model is constrained by the modernization thinking underlying it. Analysis of the discourses on modernity and ‘scientific development’ and the symbolism associated with them reveals a series of dichotomies and oppositions underpinning China’s nation-building. China’s pursuit of modernization relies on the suppression of other possible development paths within China and subsumes Chinese development experiences under those of the generalised West, thereby restricting development alternatives to those allowed within a hierarchical view of the world.
22 citations
TL;DR: The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as discussed by the authors is the logical extension of these regional efforts, but not automatic, extension of the regional economic integration, which has been discussed in detail in this paper.
Abstract: Why are the ASEAN economies increasingly becoming anxious about regional integration? To stay competitive is an obvious answer. Greater cohesion is also imperative for ASEAN to sustain its credibility of being able to provide the platform for interactions in East Asia and the rest of the world. Yet what is offered by the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services, and the ASEAN Investment Area may not be adequate or comprehensive enough for the Association to amass the economic clout commensurate with its position as a pivotal player in East Asia. The ASEAN Economic Community is thus the logical, but not automatic, extension of these regional efforts. Can it come to fruition? This paper discusses how the ASEAN economies may address key issues that have hampered deeper economic integration in the region.
21 citations
TL;DR: ASEAN has been a central and continuous feature of ASEAN since its establishment and has been largely successful at limiting competition and preventing interstate conflict among its members and at fostering a stable regional order in Southeast Asia (and an incipient one outside of the boundaries of Southeast Asia) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Security has undoubtedly been a central and continuous feature of ASEAN since its establishment. While it has modified its basic thinking on security and adapted elements of the attendant principles, aims and ways of operation to meet changed circumstances, the level of consistency is still readily observable. Centrality of a different sort has been evident, too, during the post-Cold War period. ASEAN has consciously sought to position itself at the heart of the developing security architecture in both East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific. The Association has been largely successful at limiting competition and preventing inter-state conflict among its members and at fostering a stable regional order in Southeast Asia (and an incipient one outside of the boundaries of Southeast Asia). Broadly speaking, this stability has been aided and abetted by the policies of the major external powers in whose interests it has been, up until now. The extent to which a stable regional order remains in the interests of the major powers will be one of the great questions for the next phase of ASEAN’s life.
16 citations
TL;DR: The question posed in this article is whether the triple disaster of 3/11 constitutes a "critical juncture" in Japan, and an explanation for the lack of critical change in nuclear policy is sought by comparing the ability of mainstream theories of Japanese politics to explain the situation.
Abstract: The question posed in this paper is whether the triple disaster of 3/11 constitutes a “critical juncture” in Japan. We can point to minor discontinuities in Japanese policies, institutions, and identity caused by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant meltdown that eventuated on March 11, 2011, but in the year following the event there was no evidence of a critical change. The disaster and post-disaster situation in Japan are summarized, and an explanation for the lack of critical change in nuclear policy—an area where change might have been expected in view of the fact that European countries reacted to 3/11 with critical changes in nuclear energy policy—is sought by comparing the ability of mainstream theories of Japanese politics to explain the situation.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the integration of the uplands into the Vietnamese polity should be understood as an ongoing struggle between nation-building and state expansion characterised by grand visions on the one hand, and incomplete policy implementation and uplanders' ambiguous stance towards integration on the other.
Abstract: The ethnic minorities of Southeast Asia’s uplands, including those of Vietnam, tend to be portrayed as excluded from national society and locked into poverty, environmental degradation and positions of subjugation. Recent debates about Southeast Asian uplands-lowlands relations have questioned this discourse by highlighting the diversity of experiences, the agency of ethnic minority groups, and uplanders’ strategies of state evasion. This article finds that the integration of the uplands into the Vietnamese polity should be understood as an ongoing struggle between nation-building and state expansion characterised by grand visions on the one hand, and incomplete policy implementation and uplanders’ ambiguous stance towards integration on the other.
10 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines Chinese nation building in the post-Cold War era from the perspective of foreign policy and focuses on the role of Japan and the United States as significant "Others" in Chinese leaders' construction of three major variants of Chinese national identity: as a victim (past), as a developing country (present) and as a great power (future).
Abstract: This article examines Chinese nation building in the post-Cold War era from the perspective of foreign policy It focuses on the role of Japan and the United States as significant “Others” in Chinese leaders’ construction of three major variants of Chinese national identity: as a victim (past), as a developing country (present) and as a great power (future) The article argues that Japan occupies a primary place in the enactment of the past aspect of Chinese identity, while the US plays a major role in its present and, especially, future aspects
9 citations
TL;DR: This article analyzed the life of rural-urban migrants in China in terms of poverty-reduction, child-care, education and equal opportunities for a better life by comparing the seemingly difficult and tragic life of the Zhang family against statistical facts, it showed that their suffering and struggles are common to most migrants.
Abstract: China’s impressive growth has been accompanied by huge rural-urban divide and social sacrifice of many including rural-urban migrants. Reflecting on the documentary Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan, this paper identifies and examines the life of rural-urban migrants in China in terms of poverty-reduction, child-care, education and equal opportunities for a better life. By comparing the seemingly difficult and tragic life of the Zhang family against statistical facts, it shows that their suffering and struggles are common to most migrants. In essence, by creating an interactive dialogue between the film and the economic reality in China, this paper highlights the severe constraints on the Chinese peasantry and discusses the implications of limited choices and social injustice towards rural-urban migrants. It argues that the inequality in opportunities and the lack of social care for migrants has created huge social cleavage that not only reduces social welfare but may also impede further development.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the tourism development between Taiwan and China over the last three decades under different political situation is examined and the contribution to Taiwan's economy is in doubt due to the insignificant tourism sector in Taiwan's overall economy.
Abstract: This article examines the tourism development between Taiwan and China over the last three decades under different political situation. First, Taiwan’s democratization in the 1980s made the control over outbound travel to China no longer necessary. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese visitors were welcomed at the time when China’s foreign currency was in deficiency. Second, the opening up of mainland Chinese visitors to Taiwan since 2008 marked another breakthrough in the Cross-Strait tourism development. However, as the opening up of Chinese tourists to Taiwan is based on the same “political consensus” between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and KMT in Taiwan, any dissimilar political agreements in the future may lead China to constrain the number Chinese tourists to the island. Third, the rapidly growing number of Chinese tourists brought much business benefit to the various tourism sectors in Taiwan. Nonetheless, the contribution to Taiwan’s economy is in doubt due to the insignificant tourism sector in Taiwan’s overall economy. From the current perspective, the tourism development across the Strait is more politically symbolic than substantive.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pointed out that China has been one of the major players in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis that began in October 2002, and its role in the talks has helped to start shaping a stable regional security architecture in Northeast Asia.
Abstract: China, as host of the six-party talks first convened in August 2003, has been one of the major players in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis that began in October 2002. China’s role in the talks has helped to start shaping a stable regional security architecture in Northeast Asia. Beijing’s leadership in building a new security regime in the region suggests a change on Chinese perspectives regarding its role within the broader East Asia’s regional security architecture. After years of passiveness with regards to involvement in security regime building in the region, China has evolved into an active leader seeking to shape a more institutionalized security. Despite the obstacles to building a functioning regime in Northeast Asia, China seems poised to continue working towards creation of a more stable and institutionalized security architecture.
TL;DR: Abe et al. as mentioned in this paper identified the causes of this unusually high frequency of Japan's leadership changes in recent times and found that all post-Koizumi prime ministers lost power after a short tenure by following the same pattern of demise that was characterized by a rapid fall of approval rate in the media's polls.
Abstract: After Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's highly successful rule, Japan saw the five short-lived premierships – Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, Taro Aso, Yukio Hatoyama, and Naoto Kan – over the period of five years (2006-11). This article aims to identify the causes of this unusually high frequency of Japan's leadership changes in recent times. Specifically, it finds that all post-Koizumi prime ministers lost power after a short tenure by following the same pattern of demise that was characterized by a rapid fall of approval rate in the media's polls. It argues that they fell into this pattern of failure for the same three reasons: their failure in economic policy; their poor leadership ability derived from the vanishing of the traditional career path to premiership; their unstable intraparty foothold caused by the transition from candidate-centered election to party-centered election. It argues that the politics under the Koizumi and post-Koizumi cabinets share important undercurrents despite their apparent differences.
TL;DR: The authors examine how media discourses in Australia and New Zealand have represented China's role in the South Pacific region and reveal some of the complex issues involved in Australia-New Zealand's relationships both with China and other South Pacific nations.
Abstract: Chinese diplomacy, aid, economic interactions and manifestations of soft power have increased the country’s influence in the South Pacific region. By some accounts, China’s influence is already approaching that of traditional stakeholders Australia and New Zealand. In Africa and other regions state-led and private activities in established powers’ perceived spheres of influence has caused concern and inspired particular narratives about China’s motivations. In this article we examine how media discourses in Australia and New Zealand have represented China’s role in the South Pacific. We find that China’s role has been constructed using multiple negative frames, which seek to establish China as unequivocally ‘different’. More than being unencumbered by the constraints of public opinion and a free press, China is portrayed as operating in a different moral universe, in which the cold hearted exploitation of vulnerable island nations (often in cahoots with venal island elites) is entirely normal. The article shows how such constructions reveal some of the complex issues involved in Australia and New Zealand’s relationships both with China and other South Pacific nations.
TL;DR: The authors explores the changing nature of Chinese and Vietnamese nation-building in the era of globalisation and specifically, transnationalism, focusing on a series of trends working to reinterpret the nation from within.
Abstract: This introduction explores the changing nature of Chinese and Vietnamese nation-building in the era of globalisation and specifically, transnationalism. The first part sets out a conceptual framework designed to put contemporary Chinese and Vietnamese nation-building in comparative, international perspective. The second part looks at the borders of nation-building from the point of view of diasporas living the nation-state, while the third part focuses on a series of trends working to reinterpret the nation from within.
TL;DR: The official narratives of Surrounding Areas in the 1997 New Guidelines are a curiosity: on the one hand, they signify Japan's readiness to increase its international involvement, while on the other hand, the geographical designation remains vague despite Japan's preoccupation with Asia as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The official narratives of Surrounding Areas in the 1997 New Guidelines are a curiosity: on the one hand, they signify Japan’s readiness to increase its international involvement, while on the other hand, the geographical designation remains vague despite Japan’s preoccupation with Asia. This suggests that Asia as Japan’s neighbourhood is considered along with international developments to facilitate the emergence of an ambiguous language for Japanese policy makers as they seek to adapt to changes in the international environment. As such, the term ‘Surrounding Areas’ signifies Tokyo’s anxieties in facing up to new challenges, as well as the willingness of the government to enhance Japan’s international role while maintaining its status as a pacifist state.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined Japan's decision-making process on terminating the much-criticized yen loans to China and found that strong anti-Chinese sentiment influenced Japan's policy toward China.
Abstract: 2004 was the year when the Japanese public's affinity with China dropped dramatically, to 37.6 %, due to anti-Japan riots in China. Now more than 70 % of the Japanese public does not feel an affinity with China. How could such a strong anti-Chinese sentiment influence Japan's policy toward China? This paper considers this question by examining Japan's decision-making process on terminating the much-criticized yen loans to China. Yen loans are a type of Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government to countries lacking sufficient funds for economic development. China is one of the top yen loan borrowers, and the loans have contributed to China's economic growth and increasing openness. However, in March 2005, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing that Japan intended to phase out the yen loans before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and reached an agreement on the matter. Two-and-a-half years later, Japan terminated its yen loans to China, as the foreign ministers had agreed. Through mainly firsthand documents and interviews with government officials, this paper will clarify the following two points: (1) While it is true that the Japanese government significantly reduced its yen loan package to China from 2001 onward due to domestic criticism of China, as pointed out by previous studies, it was not planning to terminate the yen loans as of summer 2004. Instead, the Japanese government was contemplating how to keep providing yen loans to China; (2) Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, who was appointed in September 2004, had pushed for the termination of yen loans to China only after anti-Chinese sentiment rose dramatically in summer 2004, because he felt that continuing the much-criticized yen loans would not benefit stable Japan-China relations. This paper sheds light on the background of the termination of yen loans to China, a major milestone in postwar Japan-China relations that had been unclear until now. Having said this, the more important point of this paper may be that it also shows the influence of strong anti-Chinese sentiment on Japan's policies toward China.
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether East Asians support for democracy is primarily based on perceived political performance, such as satisfaction with human rights, or perceived economic performance, and found that for three East Asian autocratic societies, democratic support is based more on perceived economic rather than political performance and cast a pall on the future prospects for democratization of them.
Abstract: This paper aims to explain public support for democracy in six East Asian societies using the 2006 AsiaBarometer data. The project investigates whether East Asians’ support for democracy is primarily based on perceived political performance, such as satisfaction with human rights, or perceived economic performance. The work also examines whether East Asians’ support for democracy is constrained by traditional values or the postmodern value of post-materialism. The analysis shows that for three democracies, satisfaction with human rights, i.e. perceived political performance and an intrinsic value embodied in democracy, counts more in shaping public support for democracy than perceived economic performance. Because support based on perceived economic performance is more volatile than support based on firm commitment to human rights, this finding sheds positive light on the prospects for democratic stability for the three East Asian democracies. For three East Asian autocratic societies, democratic support is based more on perceived economic rather than political performance, casting a pall on the future prospects for democratization of them. That said, these dim prospects are balanced by the finding of very weak and negative effects of some traditional Asian values on democratic support.
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TL;DR: The ASEAN Charter has proposed bold ideas in community-building as discussed by the authors, but the lack of a strong leadership impetus has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the extent to which aSEAN may reduce the gap between the richer and poorer nations of Southeast Asia.
Abstract: The vitality of ASEAN derives from its core. Until the mid 1990s, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand provided the dynamism of ASEAN and their national leaders the regional leadership so necessary for the Association’s existence. Entering its fifth decade, the Association seems posited at a “mid-life crisis”. The ASEAN Charter has proposed bold ideas in community-building. Yet the “loss” of a strong leadership impetus has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the extent to which ASEAN may reduce the gap between the richer and poorer nations of Southeast Asia. The extant two-tiered nature of ASEAN is problematic to its cohesion as each with its defining set of characteristics and views of regionalism. Can the more structured approach make up the leadership deficit and enable ASEAN to reconcile the division in its quest for regional unity? The prolonged Myanmar embarrassment seems to suggest an unconfident “yes” at best.
TL;DR: Vietnamese women in the ROC marry Taiwanese women and Taiwanese women in Vietnam marry Vietnamese women as mentioned in this paper, and Taiwanese businesses have led the Taipei government in the movement to ‘Go South.’ They have served as pioneers, surrogates and middlemen for Taiwan's economic diplomacy in Vietnam.
Abstract: In Vietnam, Taiwanese (In this article, 'Taiwanese' refer to all the citizens in Taiwan, although Taiwanese may not be a perfect usage for all the inhabitants in Taiwan. For example, some 400,000 natives of JinMen County live and work in Taiwan Province who might not identify with Taiwan Province. Also, many Vietnamese women in the ROC marry 'Taiwanese.' Perhaps it will take a few decades, if not longer, for all the inhabitants in Taiwan to identify with "Taiwanese.") businesses have led the Taipei government in the movement to ‘Go South.’ They have served as pioneers, surrogates and middlemen for Taiwan’s economic diplomacy in Vietnam. Vietnam's 'Doi Moi' (Open Door) policy, inaugurated in December 1986, encouraged greater openness to economic investment from abroad. Compared with China, Vietnam enjoys the privilege of better access to the European market. Vietnam has become the only country in Southeast Asia that can parallel China in terms of trade and investment at the turn of the century.
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TL;DR: The history of ASEAFET and ASA can be traced back to the early attempts at a regional association, which was an attempt to deal with the disparate size and power of one state, Indonesia as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The opening paper gives an account – partly drawn from the archives of an outside state, New Zealand – of the ancestors of ASEAN: ASA and SEAFET. ASEAN developed a life of its own. Yet SEAFET and ASA give some hints of its aims and some indications of its methods: the need to restrict the intervention of major outside powers; and the need to avoid the dominance by one substantial regional power, but to allow it due influence. The paper suggests that a strong motive behind the early attempts at a regional association was an attempt to deal with the disparate size and power of one state, Indonesia. If – but only if – its urge to regional primacy could be moderated and accommodated would it be possible to diminish recourse to or opportunity for the intervention of outside powers.
TL;DR: In late 1972, the Christmas bombing of Hanoi in the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam by the U.S. Air Force took place, and the American author arrived and witnessed the destruction and how the Vietnamese had already fitted this 'Battle of the B-52s' into their centuries old narrative of resistance to foreign invasion.
Abstract: In late 1972 (December 18-30), the Christmas Bombing of Hanoi in the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam by the U.S. Air Force took place. Three weeks later, the American author arrived and witnessed the destruction and how the Vietnamese had already fitted this 'Battle of the B-52s' into their centuries old narrative of resistance to foreign invasion. This article recounts the people and situations that he met on this visit and the ways Vietnamese of all kinds viewed the battle as a great victory for their land, one reinforcing their sense of past, present, and future.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on both election and public opinion data to illustrate that Japan's two-party system rests on fragile micro foundations, particularly since the change of government, and may therefore not constitute a stable equilibrium.
Abstract: A consensus exists among political scientists and the media that a two party system has become firmly established in Japan, and power alternation following the 2009 House of Representatives election seemed to confirm this trend. In contrast, in this study I draw on both election and public opinion data to illustrate that Japan's two-party system rests on fragile micro foundations, particularly since the change of government, and may therefore not constitute a stable equilibrium. Specifically, the two-party system is sustained by the logic of competition in single member districts, but lacks strong backing among a large proportion of the public. Evidence in support of this argument include 1) decreasing vote shares for both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan in the 2010 House of Councillors election, and 2) a weakening relationship between support for these two parties in monthly polls, in contrast to previous years when LDP and DPJ ratings mirrored one another. I discuss some potential implications of these developments, such as the growing prominence of regional parties and prospects for electoral rule changes.