A Panel Discussion

The geopolitics of East Asia was addressed in a panel discussion held at the Asia Society that was co-presented with The Korea Society. The panelists were: Charles Armstrong, associate professor of history, Columbia University; Calvin Sims, director of development, New York Times Television; and Donald Zagoria, professor of political science, Hunter College. In their presentations, the panelists noted that the groundswell of anti-Japanese sentiment emerging in China and South Korea suggests that the historical enmity between these three countries is continuing to fester despite improved relations among them on the economic and social fronts. They discussed the principal factors accounting for this phenomenon including the reaction to Japanese textbook issues, the proposal that Japan be named a member of the United Nations Security Council, long-standing territorial disputes and a perceived move to the right in Japanese politics. These tensions are not likely to be resolved, or at least moderated, without a proactive response from Japan, they concluded, citing as evidence the steady drumbeat of objections to the policies of the Japanese government by both China and South Korea that were punctuated recently by large demonstrations in China during which the Japanese Embassy was attacked. Moreover, a poll at the end of March by the Asahi Shimbun, the Dong-a-Ilbo and the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that more than 60% of respondents in South Korea and China said they disliked Japan, which represents an increase from earlier surveys.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

About the Speakers

Charles K. Armstrong is an associate professor of history and director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University. He specializes in modern East Asian and international history and has published widely on Korea, East Asia and U.S.–R.O.K. relations. His most recent books include Korea at the Center: Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia (M.E. Sharpe, 2005), The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 (Cornell, 2003) and Korean Society: Civil Society, Democracy, and the State (Routledge, 2002; second edition, forthcoming 2006). Armstrong earned a B.A. from Yale University in 1984 and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1994. He joined the Columbia University faculty in 1996.