RSIS-JFIR Seminar

Lecture Abstract:

As part of a research project on regional order and Japan-ASEAN cooperation conducted jointly by RSIS and the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), this seminar presents Japanese and ASEAN views on the evolving Asia-Pacific order in the light of an increasingly assertive China and the uncertainty of a Trump-led United States. The panel will also discuss the possibilities of Japan-ASEAN cooperation in response to these dynamics.

About the Speakers:

Matake Kamiya is concurrently professor of international relations at the National Defense Academy of Japan, adjunct research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, and a member of the board of directors of the Japan Association for International Security. He served as Distinguished Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand, during 1994-1995, and and as editor-in-chief of Discuss Japan – Japan Foreign Policy Forum (http://www.japanpolicyforum.jp/en/) from 2013 to 2016. He is co-editor of Introduction to Security Studies, 4th edition, (Tokyo: Aki-shobo, 2009), the most widely read textbook on security studies in Japan (Chinese and Korean translations have been published). Born in 1961 in Kyoto, he is a graduate of the University of Tokyo, and Columbia University (as a Fulbright grantee).

Yoichi Kato joined Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation (RJIF) in January 2016, where he directs projects on diplomacy, security and strategy. Prior to joining RJIF, he was national security correspondent of the Asahi Shimbun and covered foreign policy and national security issues of Japan, Japan-U.S. alliance and the overall strategic issues in the Asia-Pacific region. He was bureau chief of Asahi’s American General Bureau in Washington, DC.

He was visiting scholar at the School of International Studies of Peking University, where he conducted a research on the strategic chemistry between the United States and China. He was also visiting fellow at both the Institute for National Strategic Studies of U.S. National Defense University (INSS/NDU) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He taught national security strategy at Gakushuin University in Tokyo.

He earned his MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, U.S.A. and BA from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Sakata Yasuyo is a Professor at the Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. She held several research positions including Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Peace and Security (Tokyo), Visiting Research Fellow at Yonsei University’s Institute of Modern Korean Studies (Seoul), and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.). She specializes in Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia security.

She has participated in councils and projects at the Japan Ministry of Defense. Thinktanks such as the Japan Institute for International Affairs, Tokyo Foundation, the National Security Archives. Dialogues such as the Japan-Korea Forum (MOFA), Japan-Korea Future Dialogue (GENRON NPO-East Asia Institute), Pacific Forum CSIS, the Asan Institute for Policy Studies (Seoul) and lectured at various universities and institutions such as the National Defense Academy, Japan Self Defense Force Staff College, National Police Academy, Keidanren 21st Century Policy Institute.

She authored various publications on Korean security, U.S.-ROK-Japan, Japan-Korea security issues including The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance ed. G. J. Ikenberry, T.Inoguchi, Y. Sato (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). She is also a board member of the Japan Association for International Security.

Tan See Seng is Professor of International Relations and Deputy Director and Head of Research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).  A student of Asian security, he is the author/editor of 16 books and monographs, and has published over 70 refereed articles and book chapters. His recent books include Multilateral Asian Security Architecture: Non-ASEAN Stakeholders (2015), United States Engagement in the Asia Pacific: Perspectives from Asia (2015, with Yoichiro Sato), and The Making of the Asia Pacific: Knowledge Brokers and the Politics of Representation (2013).

This event is co-organised by RSIS and Japan Forum on International Relations