上禮拜五終於順利辦完中日論壇，累到虛脫~~
*Project Progress*
Last Friday November 16, IMTD hosted the 4th China-Japan Dialogue in the office. I helped organize the event. I used Georgetown University and American University network to invite people and there are indeed some response from Georgetown University. We had 11 participants. There were 3 Japanese, 2 Koreans, 4 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, and 1 American. Some of them are currently interning in DC; some are either students or scholars from Georgetown University, George Washington University and George Mason University. Hailey Kim, a former intern in spring 2007, came back to join the dialogue. Several of them are returning participants from previous dialogues.
First of all, we started to talk about Japan new PM, Fukuda, the difference between Fukuda and his predecessor Abe, and the debate on the constitutional reform in Japan. A participant does not think the constitution will be changed during Fukuda’s term although the debate is there. Then we talked about the historical text books and the reconciliation. Chinese students are curious about how Japanese people think of Chinese people. We found that people do not hate one another in this relationship. The governments are using nationalism for its electoral campaign and also the domestic support. The participants also dealt with North Korea issues, six party talks and their perception of the reunification of two Koreas. They also talked about the military build-up in China and whether China is a threat to Japan.
It was a good but difficult conversation. Participants were rather shy at the beginning and they could not bring up the sensitive subjects. The topics related to WWII were only mentioned at the second half of the session. The premises of reconciliation are acknowledgement and justice. One Japanese student mentioned that Japan has not acknowledged what it did during WWII and that the reconciliation will not happen if Japan does not do so.
We wrapped the dialogue up at 7:20 pm. I think this dialogue may require more time for participants from both sides to start to feel comfortable in engaging these topics.
*News on Northeast Asia*
Japan PM set for the US on November 15, 2007. It is Fukuda’s first overseas visit after he assumed the office of PM. The Japanese mission in Afghanistan is believed to be one of the most critical subjects in this visit. North Korea is also high on the agenda. (Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7095971.stm)
Two Korean Prime Ministers met in Seoul from Wednesday November 14 through Friday 16. The meeting is centered on the economic cooperation between two Koreas. A shared fishing area and a joint economic zone will be set up. The two PMs also decided a rail schedule; the 25km (16 miles) railway connecting the two Koreas might be operable by the end of this year. (Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402532.html See also BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7096004.stm.)
Taiwan surprised the WTO by blocking Chinese WTO judge. The Chinese judge Zhang Yuejiao is one of the four nominated judges in June. She would have been China’s first judge on the body, which rules on trade disputes between WTO member states. However, Taiwan stood forward on Monday and blocked this candidate. Taiwan cited doubts of the impartiality of the Chinese candidate and asked the consideration of this nomination to be removed from the agenda. (Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7102347.stm)
