Professor Kawashima Shin
13 March 2018
At a time when the US-China tensions have been on the rise over trade, technology, and other issues, Japan and China have taken steps toward improved relations. While Japan has always prioritized its alliance ties with the United States, it cannot ignore its economic relations with China. In fact, Japan-US-China relations used to be marked by a robust Japanese -American politics and security partnership on the one hand, and strong Japanese-Chinese economic ties on the other. however, technology dimension is fast emerging as an issue in the Japan-US-China triangular relations. As technology is closely related to both security and economics, a straightforward decoupling is hard to imagine. This seminar discusses the evolving Japan-China relations in the current context of growing US-China competition. The speaker analyzes the factors driving and shaping the prospect of the improved Japan-china relations in the fact of the growing US-China rivalry, before assessing their implications for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific and Belt and Road Initiative.
About the Speaker: Dr. Kawashima Shin is a Professor at the Department of International Relations, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo (2006-present). He is concurrently a Senior Research Fellow, IIPS, and the Deputy Director of CSIS-NIKKEI Virtual Think-tank, and Co-editor, Nippon.com. He majored in Chinese Studies at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and obtained a MA and Ph.D. in History from the University of Tokyo. Prior to his current position, he taught at the Department of Politics, Faculty of Law, Hokkaido University (1998-2006). In 2004, he was awarded the Suntory Academic Prize for his book, titled Chugoku Kindai Gaiko no Keisei (The Formation of Chinese Modern Diplomacy). He has published many books, including Kindaikokka he no Mosaku 1894-1925 (Exploring for Modern State in China 1894-1925), Gurobalru Chugoku he no Dotei: Gaiko 150 nen (co-author, the Road to the Global China: its Diplomacy in 150 Years) and Nittai Kankeishi:1945-2008 (co-author, The History of the Relations between Japan and Taiwan, 1945-2008).