South Korea Moves Ahead with Plans to Publish State-Authored Textbooks
Memo #348 By: Rufina K. Park – rufina.park [at] asiapacific.ca South Korea Nationalizes History Textbooks In October 2015, the South Korean government announced its decision to nationalize middle and high school history textbooks, which means that starting from 2017, schools will no longer have the option to choose from Ministry of Education approved independent publications. Instead, the […]
Spawn of China’s One-Child Policy
Memo #347 By: Christopher Rea – chris.rea [at] ubc.ca China’s One-Child Policy became, on October 29th, a two-child policy. The Policy was originally enacted to slow population growth, conserve resources, and ameliorate poverty; its actual results since 1979 have been well documented. One of its many unexpected effects was to inspire Mo Yan’s 2009 novel […]
Human rights for human resources – Japan debates and expands the controversial Technical Internship Training Program, once more
Memo #343 By: Daniel Kremers – kremers [at] dijtokyo.org Intense debate currently surrounds the Technical Internship Training Program (TITP), Japan’s major source for lesser skilled temporary migrant workers, just five years after the last major revision of immigration laws in 2010. The program consists of three years of employment in manual jobs in mostly small and medium […]
Has Chinese foreign policy in Southeast Asia entered a bolder and more assertive phase?
Memo #342 By Kai Ostwald – kai.ostwald [at] ubc.ca With the major exception of the South China Sea, China’s political presence in Southeast Asia has been low profile in recent decades, if only because it has chosen to project power indirectly through economic might and behind closed doors. Its response to recent events in Malaysia, […]
Russia’s New Pivot to Asia: The Emergence of a New Geopolitics
Memo #341 By Alexander Korolev – akorolev [at] nus.edu.sg Many observers have recently registered a new shift in Russia’s foreign policy, labelling it, “pivot to Asia.” President Putin himself announced that “Russia’s reorientation toward the Pacific Ocean and the dynamic development in all our [Russia’s] eastern territories are our priority for the whole 21st century.” […]
LNG in British Columbia, Scandals in Malaysia, and the Complexity of Policy Decisions
Memo #340 By Kai Ostwald – kai.ostwald [at] ubc.ca Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production is an important potential source of revenue and new jobs for British Columbia. The consortium tasked with developing the industry is led by Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned national oil firm. Given the size of investments (an initial $12 billion) and the […]
Migration Crisis on Southeast Asian Shores: Individual or Regional Responsibility?
Memo #338 By Kazi Fahmida Farzana – fahmida [at] uum.edu.my On May 10–11, 2015 some 2,000 new Rohingya migrants from Myanmar landed in Malaysia and Indonesia. Many others are believed to have lost their lives in this desperate journey, while hundreds are still drifting on the high seas. By seeking asylum on the shores of Southeast […]
How the EITI May Become Mongolian, Part 2 of 2
Memo #337 By Christopher Carter – cj [at] cj-carter.com and Dulguun Davaanyam – d.dlgn [at] alumni.ubc.ca In the second part of this video, we examine how the EITI, and more specifically the EITI report, can and has had an impact reducing the negative social, cultural, and environmental impacts of mining by empowering civil society and […]
How the EITI May Become Mongolian, Part 1 of 2
Memo #336 By Christopher Carter – cj [at] cj-carter.com and Dulguun Davaanyam – d.dlgn [at] alumni.ubc.ca As a former Soviet satellite state, Mongolia has experienced a tremendous transition to free markets and democracy over the past 15 years. Most recently, has been the realization of the country’s vast mineral wealth. In the past decade, foreign […]
Regional Vitalization: Japan at the Crossroads
The Heisei mergers are long done and Japan has turned to vitalizing its rural economy. The question is whether such a policy will work. Memo #331 By Anthony Rausch – asrausch [at] cc.hirosaki-u.ac.jp The current focus on regional vitalization by the Abe Cabinet reflects Japanese concern with its dropping rural population and Tokyo-centered economy. The […]