WAMU Radio interviews The Asia Foundation’s Director of International Relations John Brandon on continued protests in Thailand, and what is at stake as the military increases its pressure on the protesters. Listen to the interview: “Protests in Thailand.”
In a Huffington Post blog piece about Afghan President Karzai’s May visit to Washington, D.C., and the influential role Afghan ministers play in decision making, The Asia Foundation is recommended as an organization that the State Department should connect the ministers with during their visit in order to raise their visibility with the American public. Read the full article: “Charlie Rose Meet Dr. Z.”
The Asia Foundation is pleased to announce
U.S.-China Relations: Present and Future
with His Excellency
Zhou Wenzhong
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
People’s Republic of China to the United States of America
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Registration 5:30 p.m.
Program 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Fairmont Hotel
Gold Room
950 Mason Street
San Francisco, California 94108
With China’s growing role in the global arena, a new phase of China-U.S. relations has taken center stage. During his recent visit, President Obama declared a success in establishing better diplomatic ties and pledged to treat China as a trusted global partner in future endeavors. Meanwhile, people in China have shown great interest in not just the President’s rise to the White House, but also in how furthering dialogue with the U.S. will be an asset to both nations. Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong addresses the World Affairs Council of Northern California on the significance of strong U.S.-China bilateral relations, as well as to offer the Chinese perspective on its growing role in the world.
This event is co-sponsored with the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Cal-Asia Business Council, and Asia Society of Northern California.
As a guest of The Asia Foundation, please click here to be redirected to the WAC website and register at the reduced “co-sponsor” rate.
Note: advanced registration is recommended for guaranteed seating, please arrive early to check in. Pre-registration is not required and walk-ins on the day of this program are welcome.
The Asia Foundation and the Asia Society present:
The Future of Democracy in China
with special guests
Harry Harding
Dean, Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy, University of Virginia
Trustee, The Asia Foundation
Minxin Pei
Senior Associate, China Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Orville Schell
Arthur Ross Director, Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations
Jonathan R. Stromseth
The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative, China
Monday, October 5, 2009
What are the prospects for democratic reform in China? Some say thirty years of successful economic reforms, bringing unprecedented prosperity and giving rise to a new middle class will inevitably lead to political opening. Others argue that this very success has made the Communist Party’s hold on power stronger than ever. Still others express concern that growing social and economic tensions will lead to conflict and instability. Please join our distinguished panel, co-sponsored by the Asia Society, for a discussion of China’s remarkable transformation and political future.
Speakers:
Harry Harding is Dean of the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Dr. Harding is a vice-chairman of the Asia Foundation board, a director of the Atlantic Council of the United States, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and a member of the Board of Governors of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has written extensively on China and US-China relations.
Minxin Pei is senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. Dr. Pei has written broadly on China, including, recently, “Think Again: Asia’s Rise,” in Foreign Policy. He is a frequent commentator on the BBC and NPR, and has written op-eds for the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek International, and International Herald Tribune.
Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross director of the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations. Previously, he worked for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, covered the war in Indochina as a journalist, and was a professor and dean at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has served as a commentator for network news programs and been a correspondent and consultant for many PBS “Frontline” documentaries and an Emmy award-winning program for “60 Minutes.” Schell is the author of fourteen books, including nine about China, and has written for numerous magazines, including The China Quarterly and The New Yorker.
Jonathan R. Stromseth is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative to China. Based in Beijing, Dr. Stromseth is an expert on governance and politics, legal reform, political economy and international relations. Before moving to China, Dr. Stromseth established The Asia Foundation’s office in Hanoi, worked for the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Cambodia, and taught at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Dr. Stromseth’s commentary has appeared in the Asian Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg News, and Marketplace.
Co-Sponsored by The Asia Society and World Affairs Council of Northern California
Monday, October 5, 2009
Program 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Location:
World Affairs Council of Northern California
312 Sutter Street, Suite 200
San Francisco, California
To register for this special event please click here to go to the World Affairs Council website. Or call 415-293-4600.
As a guest of The Asia Foundation, please register at reduced “member” rate of $5.
Advanced registration is recommended for guaranteed seating. However, pre-registration is not required and walk-ins on the day of this program are welcome.
The Asia Foundation, the India Community Center, the Center for South Asia at Stanford University, and the World Affairs Council of Northern California will host:
An evening of conversation on Ambassador Teresita Schaffer’s new book
India and the U.S. in the 21st Century: Reinventing Partnership
with
Ambassador Teresita Schaffer
Asia Foundation Trustee, Director, South Asia Program, CSIS, Former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs
and
Professor Pradeep Chhibber
Director of the Institute of International Studies, the University of California, Berkeley
Monday, October 5, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Oksenberg Room (3rd floor), Encina Hall Central
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6045
(Directions)
“This book is essential to understanding the present state of U.S.-India relations and the prospects for the future. It is well organized, comprehensive, balanced, thoughtful, and full of the kind of insight that not only makes for good reading but even better understanding.”
–Thomas R. Pickering, former U.S. Ambassador to India
Seating is limited. Please register by October 2, 2009 to Vishnu@indiacc.org
Ambassador Schaffer examines the astonishing new strategic partnership between the United States and India, the two countries’ success in forging bilateral relations and their relatively skimpy record of seeking common ground on global issues despite the vibrant new network of bilateral ties. In her new book Ambassador Schaffer proposes a policy of inclusion and candor, with the United States taking the relationship global and regional by helping to move India into global councils of leadership.
An Agence France-Presse wire story about Hillary Clinton’s trip to Thailand to attend the ASEAN security forum, features quotes from a July 22 In Asia post by John Brandon, Director of The Asia Foundation’s International Relations programs. Read full article: “Return of prodigal US pleases Asia.”
On the heels of releasing its recommendations for the new U.S. administration – America’s Role in Asia – The Asia Foundation will co-sponsor the World Affairs Council’s 63rd Annual World Conference, “Global Priorities: Critical Choices for the Obama Administration.” On April 2-3, 2009, in San Francisco, political leaders, policymakers, scholars, and diplomats will gather to examine, and debate these issues at this turning point in U.S. history. Asia Foundation President Doug Bereuter will moderate a session on emerging economies, China, India and sovereign wealth funds, and other Asia Foundation experts are slated to participate on additional panels. Co-sponsors receive a special discounted rate: sign up for the member price. For more information about the event, and nonmember pricing, please visit the World Affairs Council website.
Monday, March 2, 2009
4:00 – 5:30pm
The Asia Foundation
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036
8th Floor, William & Mary Conference Room
Does the United States Need a New East Asian Anchor?
A Case for U.S.-Japan-Korea Trilateralism
A presentation by Professor Mo Jongryn,
Professor, Yonsei University, and Research Fellow, Stanford University
With opening remarks by Scott Snyder, Senior Associate and Director,
Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, The Asia Foundation
Dr. Jongryn Mo has been Professor of International Political Economy at the Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei University, since 1996. He is also Research Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and was founding dean of Yonsei University’s Underwood International College from 2004 to 2008.
Please join us for his assessment of the U.S. position in East Asia based on new possibilities of trilateral cooperation between the United States and its alliance partners, Korea and Japan.
To RSVP for this event please contact See-Won Byun at sbyun@centerforuskoreapolicy.org or 202-588-9420.
While in Singapore, John Brandon, The Asia Foundation’s Director, International Relations and Associate Director, Washington, D.C., gave a live studio interview to CNBC’s Maura Fogarty and Rebecca Meehan on the significance of Hillary Clinton’s trip to Asia. The interview, which covered the significance of Secretary Clinton’s visit to Asia and U.S.-Asia issues topping her agenda, was aired on CNBC’s “Capital Connection” news program on Friday. View the segment: “Future of U.S.-Asia Relations.”
Against the backdrop of the new administration’s position that “smart power” will require the U.S. to “bolster old alliances and forge new ones” with nations such as South Korea, The Asia Foundation today launched a new institute to promote a broader U.S.-Korea relationship. The goal of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy is to expand cooperation between the U.S. and Korea by challenging policymakers in both nations to consider the opportunities and potential scope of a broader, deeper, and more robust relationship. Scott Snyder, a preeminent U.S.-Korea relations scholar and frequent commentator on Asian security issues, including the Korean peninsula, is founder and director. Snyder is the former Asia Foundation country representative to Korea and is author of the newly-published China’s Rise and the Two Koreas, an examination of the implications of China’s rise on the two Koreas and their relationship with the U.S., and Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior. Council on Foreign Relations recently named Snyder adjunct senior fellow for Korea Studies.
“South Korea has developed the economic, political, and security resources to be a first-tier partner on the international stage,” said Snyder, discussing the Center’s purpose. “Strengthened forms of cooperation with like-minded allies in the Asia-Pacific are likely to be at a premium as the center of gravity for global economic and political interactions shifts toward Asia.”
The Center will conduct joint policy projects that identify and promote specific issues and forms of cooperation, as well as serve as a resource for enhanced communication with policymakers in Seoul and Washington. Programs will address security, nuclear energy development, climate change, and the role and influence of the U.S.-ROK alliance on Northeast Asian relations.
On February 17, the Center will conduct its first official activity, “Pursuing a Comprehensive Vision for a U.S.-ROK Alliance,” a high-level conference sponsored with The Asia Foundation’s Korea office that will bring together American and Korean experts in Seoul to discuss strengthening U.S. and Korea cooperation, in light of the new U.S. administration and the agenda forged by the U.S.-ROK strategic alliance in April 2008.
Snyder speaks Korean and is a senior associate in the international relations program at The Asia Foundation. He holds the same title at Pacific Forum, the Asia-Pacific arm of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was most recently a Pantech Fellow at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. He holds an M.A. from the Regional Studies East Asia Program at Harvard University, and a B.A. from Rice University. Snyder was a recipient of a Thomas G. Watson Fellowship and attended Yonsei University in South Korea.
About The Center for U.S.-Korea Policy The Center for U.S.-Korea Policy aims to deepen the foundations for institutionalized cooperation between the United States and South Korea by promoting bilateral policy coordination. Based in The Asia Foundation’s Washington D.C. office, and with seed funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Center supports The Foundation’s commitment to the development of the Asia Pacific by leading a comprehensive U.S.-ROK alliance partnership on emerging global, regional, and non-traditional security challenges. The new Center will work closely with the Foundation’s office in Korea to enhance bilateral participation and impact. About The Asia Foundation The Asia Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous, just, and open Asia-Pacific region. The Foundation supports programs in Asia that help improve governance, law, and civil society; women’s empowerment; economic reform and development; and international relations. Drawing on more than 50 years of experience in Asia, the Foundation collaborates with private and public partners to support leadership and institutional development, exchanges, and policy research.
In Korea, The Asia Foundation works in partnership with local organizations to address the challenges, opportunities, and responsibilities arising from Korea’s emergence as an important economic and diplomatic actor in the Asia-Pacific Region. Programs focus on Korea’s relations with the United States and its Asian neighbors, Korea’s expanding role as an aid donor for less-developed countries in Asia, and promoting peaceful resolution of tensions arising from the division of the Korean peninsula.
With offices throughout Asia, an office in Washington, D.C., and its headquarters in San Francisco, the Foundation addresses these issues on both a country and regional level. In 2008, the Foundation provided more than $87 million in program support and distributed over one million books and educational materials valued at $41 million throughout Asia. For more information, please visit the Press Room.
February 26, 2009
3:00 – 4:30 pm
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20009
Choate Foyer & Room, 1st Floor
Scott Snyder, Center for U.S.-Korea Policy Director and Senior Associate at The Asia Foundation, will discuss the findings of his new book, China’s Rise and the Two Koreas: Politics, Economics, Security, which explores the transformation of the Sino-South Korean relationship since the early 1990s. By assessing the strategic significance of recent developments in China’s relationship with both North and South Korea and the likely consequences for U.S. and Japanese influence in the region, this meticulous study lends important context to critical debates regarding China’s foreign policy, Northeast Asian security, and international relations more broadly.
David Lampton, George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies and Director of the China Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, will provide comments.
Copies of China’s Rise and the Two Koreas will be available for purchase.
To RSVP for this event, please contact rsvp@asiafound-dc.org.
February 17, 2009
Seoul, Korea
As the opening event for The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, this conference will bring together U.S. and Korean experts to discuss possibilities for strengthening U.S.-ROK alliance cooperation in a range of issues. Including both American and South Korean perspectives as well as comparative views with respect to other U.S. alliances, the discussion will comprehensively assess the future of the U.S.-ROK alliance in light of the new Obama Administration and agenda forged by the “U.S.-ROK strategic alliance” in April 2008. The program is co-sponsored with The Asia Foundation’s Korea office and Friends of The Asia Foundation/Korea.
To RSVP for this event, please contact csmoon@asiafound.org.
Scott Snyder, The Asia Foundation’s Senior Associate, International Relations, recently gave his thoughts on the Obama administration’s North Korea policy in a BBC Worldwide piece on U.S. talks with North Korea. “I expect high-level contact between the Obama administration and North Korea in 2009, if some post-phase two activities can be initiated” Snyder said.
North Korea’s rejection of a proposal over ways to verify its nuclear declaration, and the incomplete disabling of key nuclear facilities in Yongbyon have created the deadlock. According to the piece, experts agree that resolving these two issues are necessary before “high level” contact between Pyongyang and Washington can occur.
Scott Snyder, The Asia Foundation’s Senior Associate, International Relations, was quoted in today’s Los Angeles Times in a story on the North Korea nuclear talks. Read the full story, “No breakthrough in North Korea nuclear talks.”
Scott Snyder, The Asia Foundation’s Senior Associate, International Relations, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times on recent U.S.-North Korea relations. Read the full article, “U.S. tries to build consensus on North Korea deal.“
John Brandon, The Asia Foundation’s Director, International Relations and Associate Director, Washington, D.C., authored an op-ed which was published in this week’s edition of AsianWeek. The op-ed details how the Asian-American communities in California have strengthened both the state and the country’s economic and cultural fabric of life. Read the full piece, “California’s Role in Asia.”
Scott Snyder, Senior Associate, International Relations at The Asia Foundation, has been quoted on US-North Korea relations in light of Kim Jong Il’s ill health. The article, “Kim’s health triggers nuclear, ally concerns in US,” appeared yesterday in Agence France Presse.
Two of the authors of The Asia Foundation’s America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views, Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy and Ambassador Han Sung-Joo, were interviewed about the report by Radio Australia. Streaming audio and a transcript of the interview are both available from the Radio Australia story, “What Asia Wants from the Next U.S. President.”
Reuters today published a story about the release of The Asia Foundation’s America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views report and the report’s recommendations. Read “Next president should focus more on Asia: study.”
(A Mongolian version of this press release is also available for download.)
Top Asian and U.S. foreign policy experts urge incoming U.S. administration to put Asia at top of agenda
U.S. must maintain constructive response to China’s rise
The health of the U.S. economy is now tied to Asia in fundamental ways that, if not grasped quickly by the incoming presidential administration, could have unintended, adverse consequences, according to America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views, a new published volume of foreign policy recommendations written by 20 distinguished Asian and U.S. experts and released this morning in Washington. Although relations with China are generally constructive, the report states, the U.S. must, in order to minimize threats to American security and prosperity, maintain a constructive response as China continues to rise. Further, the report underscores the importance of responding to the “rise of the rest” by adjusting the membership in various international organizations. Convened and supported by The Asia Foundation, this landmark report is the product of a year of high-level, closed-door discussions across Asia and in the U.S. that addressed critical bilateral and trans-national issues in U.S.-Asia relations, including Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, energy security, environmental degradation, Asia’s regional alliances, trade, and investment.
Published on a quadrennial cycle, America’s Role in Asia provides U.S. policymakers with concrete recommendations on how to address pressing challenges and opportunities in Asia. Further, in order to put Asia on the party platforms for the 2008 Democratic and Republican conventions, advance summaries of the recommendations were recently hand-delivered to top foreign policy advisors to both candidates.
“The region needs urgent attention,” agreed Ambassador Michael Armacost and Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, American co-chairs of America’s Role in Asia. “The most consequential emerging powers—China and India—are casting longer shadows, and America’s relative power is declining. The new administration must accord Asia the attention its intrinsic importance to us demands.”
The report is divided into American and Asian views, reflecting the thinking of some of the most accomplished U.S.-Asia relations experts in the world. The project’s American task force was led by Armacost, who is Shorenstein Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Center at Stanford University, former Undersecretary of State, and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and the Philippines; and Roy, who is Vice Chairman of Kissinger International Associates, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, and former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, China and Singapore. The Asian task force was chaired by Ambassador Han Sung-Joo, chairman of the Asan Institute in Seoul and former Foreign Minister of South Korea; Ambassador Tommy Koh, chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, Ambassador-at-Large in Singapore, and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York; and Dr. C. Raja Mohan, professor at the Rajanthan School of International Studies in Singapore and former member of India’s National Security Advisory Board.
“This report was prepared with the expressed intent to inform and influence future American foreign policy for the Asia-Pacific region so that sound, workable solutions to common problems are found,” said Douglas Bereuter, president of The Asia Foundation and 26-year veteran of Congress, where he chaired the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee. “A major objective of The Asia Foundation is to foster greater understanding between the United States and Asia, and we’re very pleased that our extensive relationships and unique access to a wide range of U.S. and Asian leaders has resulted in these important, timely perspectives.”
Among the findings and recommendations of the American task force:
Among the findings and recommendations of the Asian taskforce:
The full report is available for download, as are overviews of the reports and executive summaries.
Download the full report, America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views.
See a full list of related documents.
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