Engaging China: Myth, Aspiration, and Strategy in Canadian Policy from Trudeau to Harper (Video Interview with Paul Evans)
Memo #291 Behind the Book: Dr. Paul Evans discusses his latest book Engaging China: Myth, Aspiration, and Strategy in Canadian Policy from Trudeau to Harper Last month the Asia Pacific Memo sat down with Paul Evans to discuss his recently released book, Engaging China: Myth, Aspiration, and Strategy in Canadian Policy from Trudeau to Harper […]
Decision Time for Hong Kong Democracy Fast Approaching
Memo #288 With a raft of elections in the offing, Beijing must soon decide if it will give Hong Kong its promised democracy. By Jonathan Manthorpe – jonathan.manthorpe [at] gmail.com This June 4 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Chinese government’s crackdown on the pro-reform demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Nowhere will that memory […]
Rebuilding a Broken House: Healthcare Reform in China
Memo #279 By Jiong Tu – jt457 [at] cam.ac.uk Since the 1980s, when China began to adopt market reforms, its health care system experienced a transition from fully state-run and financed care toward more privately financed and delivered health care. These changes led to soaring medical fees, minimal medical insurance coverage, and poor access to […]
Violent Disputes in the Chinese Medical Sector: the “Yinao” Phenomenon
Memo #278 By Jiong Tu – jt457 [at] cam.ac.uk The medical sector in China has witnessed increasing disputes between doctors and patients over the past several years. According to a 2012 report, medical disputes in China had increased at the rate of 22.9 percent annually since 2002, and are now one of the country’s biggest […]
Resolving the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island Dispute: The Limitations of International Law
Memo #272 By Keshav Kelkar – keshav.kelkar [at] alumni.ubc.ca Among the many issues causing friction in Sino-Japanese relations, none has as great a potential for generating armed conflict as the dispute over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu Islands. And in attempts to resolve the impasse, international law has if anything proven to be a problem rather […]
The Global Intensification of Supplementary Education
Memo #271 Featuring Julian Dierkes Recently, Ee-Seul Yoon of the Faculty of Education at UBC in coordination with the Asia Pacific Memo sat down with Dr. Julian Dierkes, Associate Professor and Keidanren Chair in Japanese Research at UBC’s Institute for Asian Research, to pose a few questions about Professor Dierkes’ recently co-edited volume, Out of the Shadows: The Global […]
Redback Rising: Canada’s Role in the Internationalization of the Renminbi
Memo #267 By Grégoire Legault – gregoire.legault [at] alumni.ubc.ca The Chinese renminbi, or “people’s currency” (人民币), has been internationalizing more rapidly than experts had previously forecast, even though the country’s capital account remains closed and the currency’s exchange rate is still not allowed to float freely. The redback is crossing national borders at a transitional stage in […]
The Rise of Volunteering in China: Transforming Cities and Personhood
Memo #266 By Lisa Hoffman – hoffmanl [at] uw.edu Indicative of an increased attention to volunteerism as a tool for cities and communities across the globe, in 2011 the United Nations issued its first State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, subtitled “Universal Values for Global Wellbeing.” Young people in particular have been encouraged by agencies […]
NYU Shanghai and the Future of International Higher Education in China
Memo #261 By Joel Heng Hartse – joelhartse [at] gmail.com New York University Shanghai recently completed its first semester of operations. Though NYU Shanghai was recently touted by National Public Radio as the first Sino-U.S. joint university, there are in fact hundreds of approved joint-degree programs and more than thirty jointly run Sino-foreign universities operating in China—and the […]
Fragmentation vs. Integration in Asia in 2014: A Year for the History Books
Memo #259 By Yves Tiberghien – yves.tiberghien [at] ubc.ca In the wake of major leadership change around East Asia, what will be the major trends in the Asia/Pacific region in 2014? Did the battle over the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and the provocative visit to Yasukuni Temple by Prime Minister Abe on December […]