Events

The Japan Studies Association of Canada hosted its Annual Conference with the theme 'Impacts of Japan and Canada Hosting the World: Catalyzing Change through Cultural, Economic, Political, and Sporting Events.'  Japan has hosted World Expos, the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 2019 G20 Summit, and it will tentatively host the postponed 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in July 2021.  

Canada has also hosted similar mega events. These events have led to major infrastructure projects, captured national and international social and culture moments of change, and highlighted the role of technology and economics during such events. How has hosting or cancelling these large events changed Japan and Canada in a regional, national, and international context? What have been the impacts of other events, small or large, planned or spontaneous, such as festivals, at the local, regional, and national level?

The 2021 JSAC conference will explore these questions above but will also engage other topics related to the following themes:

Japanese Language; Popular Culture & Mass Media; Literature, Visual, and Performing Arts; Economic Development & Sustainability; Politics, Security & Safety; Religion, Philosophy, History, and Culture; Architecture and Aesthetics; Regional Planning & Community Development; Technology & Science; Education; Food & Agriculture; Consumption

Our Post Graduate Research Scholar, Natasha Fox spoke on A Queer Geography of the Olympics from Vancouver 2010 to Tokyo 2020 panel. 

Our Senior Program Manager, Engaging Asia, Scott Harrison, and Program Manager, Perspectives Asia, Sreyoshi Dey spoke on Canadian perceptions of Japan, and Japanese views on Canada – Reflecting on the public opinions panel.

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and the Chile Pacific Foundation welcomes you to attend our final joint webinar in the series ASEAN and The Americas: China’s Belt & Road Initiative and its Impact on the Political and Social Dynamics in the Indo-Pacific: Implications for Canada’s and Chile’s Foreign Policy.

Views on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) vary significantly depending on where they are generated. While most of the Western Hemisphere perceives the BRI as a massive international, investment-lending program for the Chinese to exert and project influence and geopolitical power, in Southeast Asian nations in particular, there are alternative narratives that highlight the value of collaboration between China and the expanded Indo-Pacific region, especially in the most developing countries.

The dynamics of Chinese engagement within the Indo-Pacific region through the BRI as a flagship policy is bringing about a new set of social interactions that remain poorly understood by Western citizens without access to non-English literature. For actors in the ASEAN region, people-to-people, NGO-to-NGO, city- to-city and many other sub-national ties are driving transformation in the region. Such sub-national engagement has impacts on institutional stability, prospects for trade, innovation and economic development.

This webinar aims to discuss some of these alternative drivers, while breaking down key aspects of the BRI that are typically underscored in the Western context, in order to better understand development in the ASEAN region. The roundtable will contribute to a more holistic account of Asia’s internal dynamics that Canadian and Chilean policy-makers can use to inform their policy thinking and engagement in the region.

This webinar will be 90 mins long.

Spanish interpretation is made available for this webinar.
Interpretación al español disponible para este webinar.

Speakers:

Andrés Bórquez Basaez, Assistant Professor / Coordinator of the Chinese Studies Program at the Institute of International Studies, University of Chile

Elina Noor, Director, Political-Security Affairs, Asia Society Policy Institute and Distinguished Fellow, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada 

Jeffrey Reeves, Vice-President Research & Strategy, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

Municipal and provincial twinning relationships are not a new facet of Canadian foreign relations, yet their contributions to Canada’s relations in the Indo-Pacific have been sorely understudied and underutilized. Over half of Canada’s twinning relationships, which totalled around 270 at their peak, are already with counterparts in the Indo-Pacific. However, the rate at which subnational jurisdictions have inked new agreements has greatly declined since the 1980s and 1990s. Meanwhile, Indo-Pacific nations have not only continued to expand their twinning relations but have even revamped and enshrined their approaches to twinning as part of their foreign policy strategy. This contrast between Canada and Indo-Pacific nations highlights opportunities for Canada to diversify its Indo-Pacific relations and raises important questions about the role of municipalities and provinces in Canadian foreign policy, which has traditionally been reserved for the federal government. 

Our Senior Program Manager, Engaging Asia, Scott Harrison, and Junior Research Scholar, Quinton Huang appear as panellists at this symposium. Their presentation explores different approaches to subnational twinning across the Indo-Pacific and compares them with Canadian strategies thus far. Drawing on our APF Canada dataset of twinning relationships between Canada and five Indo-Pacific countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea), we highlight trends in Canadian twinning agreements with these countries and identify “clusters” of twinning activity. Using several of these clusters as case studies, we argue that twinning relationships increase people-to-people exchanges and produce long-term economic and cultural benefits beyond the term and scope of individual agreements. Leaders at the municipal and provincial levels thus have a significant and even outsized role in shaping Canada – Indo-Pacific relations. Our research suggests not only that twinning should be a key component in a future Canadian Indo-Pacific strategy, but also that the agency of subnational governments in Indo-Pacific relations ought to be of higher consideration for federal policy-makers.