Showing papers in "European Journal of East Asian Studies in 2013"

The European Union Model’s Influence in Asia after the Global Financial Crisis

Abstract: The European Union (EU) has exerted a powerful influence over the international system. Often overlooked is that this influence has not always operated in the manner the architects and admirers of the EU might have hoped. Instead, the diffusion of European norms and the policy transfer of the EU model of regional integration is mediated by triangular processes in Asia of (1) selective rule-taking, (2) translation and adaption, and (3) modifying external models with alternative indigenous visions and norms.

Evolving China–ASEAN Relations and CAFTA: Chinese Perspectives on China’s Initiatives in Relation to ASEAN Plus 1

Abstract: China’s rising profile as a global economic and geopolitical actor has been matched with a parallel improvement in its relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbours. Many Chinese scholars see this improvement as a testament to the efficacy of a Chinese geopolitical strategy which combines economic diplomacy launched during the late 1990s, with an on-going diplomatic ‘charm offensive’. To them, it is this geopolitical strategy which has made it possible for both China and its ASEAN neighbours to move away from antagonism and confrontation towards economic partnership, mutual cooperation and good-neighbourly relations. From this perspective, CAFTA, initiated by China within the framework of ASEAN Plus 1, has not only created the world’s largest free trade area that represents the world’s most energetic and fastest growing economy, it has also made it possible for China to leverage itself internationally. For most Chinese scholars, CAFTA seems to have ensured that while China claims its due place on the global stage by virtue of its wealth, power, modernisation of its military might and its cultural expansion, its neighbours do not construe its ‘peaceful rise’ as a threat.

Ethnic Separatism in the People’s Republic of China History, Causes and Contemporary Challenges

Abstract: The aims of this paper are threefold: to provide some historical background on ethnic separatism in the PRC; to identify the causes of ethnic separatism; and to provide an assessment of the current separatist challenges to the PRC and their implications for China’s domestic politics and foreign relations. The paper demonstrates that the nature and scale of the challenge posed by any one ethnic minority to the PRC is largely a function of three major factors: the historical relationship between the ethnic group and the Chinese state; the geographic concentration of the ethnic minority; and the degree of acculturation to the dominant Han society. In this regard the paper identifies Xinjiang and Tibet as the ethnic minority regions that pose the most enduring separatist challenge to Beijing.

Rivers of Peace Institutionalised Mekong River Cooperation and the East Asian Peace

Abstract: East Asia represents a remarkable example of a region that has transformed from one of the most violent in the world, in terms of interstate wars and internationalised intrastate conflicts, towards a relatively peaceful region. What explains East Asian peace? This study adopts an institutional perspective, arguing that a crucial role in the creation and development of East Asia’s peace, and in the Mekong region in particular, has been the emergence of transnational river cooperation in the Mekong Basin. It examines the nature and drivers of such institutional cooperation. Explanations can be found in a combination of external support from third parties, and an internal economic growth imperative held by the Mekong states themselves. It provides useful policy lessons for the creation and development of peace and cooperation through institution-building.

Dragon dance or panda trot? China’s position towards the Iranian Nuclear Programme and its perception of EU unilateral Iran sanctions

Abstract: In its foreign policy towards the Iranian nuclear programme, China is unwilling to join the partially harsh anti-Iran rhetoric of the US and the EU3. China has averted the imposition of sanctions and only abstained from its veto power as a permanent UNSC member after considerable diplomatic persuasion by ‘the West’. Beijing was cautious not to spoil its image as a ‘responsible Great Power’, walking a diplomatic tightrope in balancing a pragmatic–commercial approach to business in Iran and mollifying Western security concerns related to the Iranian nuclear programme, following the tradition of Deng Xiaoping’s doctrine of ‘maintaining a low profile’. Increasingly, however, China is conveying a more assertive foreign policy and is no longer hiding its strategic interests. This paper argues that with the EU3 being at the forefront of nuclear diplomacy with Iran, disagreements with China over the EU’s recent sanctions policy against Iran can, but need not, be a step in the direction of EU–China strategic alienation in the search for long-term solutions to the Iranian nuclear stalemate.

Nostalgia as Resistance: Memory, Space and the Competing Modernities in Berlin and Shanghai

Abstract: This paper compares the nostalgia culture of urban space in contemporary Berlin and Shanghai. In Berlin, the nostalgia for both pre-WWII Berlin space and East Berlin street culture prove attractive. In Shanghai, spaces that associate with the 1930s’ Shanghai bourgeois life win high popularity among the local. Rather than understanding nostalgia in local-global tension, this article argues that the spatial nostalgia in both cities is related to the local resistance to the predominant national narrative in exhibiting competing understandings of modernity.

Taiwanese and German Citizenship Reforms: Integration of Immigrants without Challenging the Status Quo, 1990–2000

Abstract: The end of the 1990s witnessed the formulation of new nationality laws in both West Germany and Taiwan for the first time after more than 50 years of national division in each case. The adherence of West Germany and Taiwan to their pre-war nationality legislation allowed them to claim ethnic Germans and overseas Chinese constitutionally, but it resulted in the exclusion of long-term residents from their rightful positions in the German and Taiwanese citizenries. In the era of migration, the unregulated position of these foreign residents could no longer be tolerated. Confronted with the same problem, legislators in both states initiated a citizenship reform to facilitate the integration of foreigners. The author suggests that the citizenship reforms in the two cases facilitated the acquisition of nationality by foreigners without either state departing from its positions on jus sanguinis or dual nationality.

How Does the Past Shape the Present? The EU Policy towards Myanmar in Inter-Regional Context

Abstract: The EU is active in Southeast Asia to enhance its profile as a major ASEAN partner. But in order to be perceived as a full-fledged partner, the EU has to convince ASEAN countries of its changing style and tone. This is a difficult endeavour since the ‘Burmese experience’ has produced much unease and a lasting irritation on the ASEAN side.After 20 years of sanctions escalation and clumsy declarations on Burma/Myanmar, the EU diplomacy has produced mixed results: on the one hand, it has enhanced its credentials as a global promoter of democracy and human rights, but on the other hand, it has done so in such a controversial way that its credibility and influence have been challenged. Vis-a-vis both ASEAN and Myanmar, it has produced widespread doubt on the EU capacity to become an actor of political influence in Southeast Asia, a doubt that is often underestimated by European circles.The recent evolution, both from regional and inter-regional angles, offers the EU a window of opportunity for new policy orientations as a path to regain legitimacy in Southeast Asia.

The Politics of Civil Society Organisation in Cambodia and Vietnam

Abstract: The paper examines the correct analytical positioning of foreign donors’ aid support for civil society in Cambodia and Vietnam. It is argued that references to the ‘state’ should include political activities (by donors) in order to better understand the effects of the different donors’ strategies in the two countries. By discussing the question of sovereignty, the paper argues that the weakness of civil society in Vietnam is linked to the weakness of state agency, and vice versa in Cambodia. The paper concludes that donors’ analyses should have taken (and in Vietnam did not take) fuller account of the positive effects of support for civil society upon state strength.

Transmigrant Identities and Human Capital Flows in Singapore

Abstract: Singapore provides a useful model of how the flow of transnationals and their economic, political and social impacts are managed. Singapore is one of the world’s most open economies but its low total fertility rate (TFR) has threatened its economic growth and survival. As a result, the government has been recruiting foreign human capital in order to expand its working population and economic growth. The imperative was business to leverage on global growth in 2005 but the city-state was not adequately prepared for the huge influx of foreigners or non-resident workers. The number of non-resident workers increased by 100 per cent to more than 1.3 million in about five to six years from 2005. Some of the unintended ‘spillover’ effects have been rising inflation, increasing competition for jobs, escalating property prices and overcrowding on public transport. Societal tensions have emerged around the concept of ‘us’ and the ‘other’ in Singapore. The paper discusses how the state and companies have implemented programmes to reduce the ‘gaps’ between local and foreign human capital in Singapore. Some of these have included orientation programmes, activities with voluntary welfare organisations and other interactions under the overall integration policy the state has implemented.

Modern Philosopher Kings: Lee Kuan Yew and the Limits of Confucian ‘Idealistic’ Leadership

Abstract: The paper explores the question of whether modern states, especially in Asia, need philosophical or ‘ideological’ bases for their founding and continuation. It takes as its case study Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, who appeared to succeed in founding a modern prosperous state that avoided grand philosophical foundations in favour of ‘performance’—security, stability and prosperity. The paper argues that a closer look at Lee’s conception of leadership reveals a more complex picture. Lee’s concern for the future prosperity of Singapore, and therefore his legacy, meant that he needed to secure what he calls ‘idealistic leadership’ that was essential yet lacking in Singapore. His recourse to ‘Asian values’, and especially Confucianism, was intended to provide such idealistic leadership. The lack of success of his Confucian initiatives reveals the inherent problems of Confucianism as a moral foundation for modern legitimacy and state-building, and the limits of performance for founding of modern nation-states.

The 2010 Philippine National Elections: Perception and Reality

Abstract: The newly automated 2010 national elections in the Philippines were widely reported, nationally and internationally, as ‘successful.’ This article argues that this assessment is simplistic and requires qualification. Automation did little to counter cheating at the retail level. Troubling questions also linger over the robustness of the automated system against wholesale sabotage. There was significant disagreement over whether the elections could be judged a success by various interested parties and the degree to which the automated system could be trusted. The reasons for this will be examined here. In conclusion it is argued that automated elections are not a panacea for electoral cheating and those who are inclined to cheat in manual elections will also find ways to cheat automation.