Details:
The Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg and the University of Luxembourg are organising a webinar on Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy on Tuesday 16 March 2021, from 13:15 to 14:45.
Tsuneo Watanabe, a renowned political scientist and influential opinion leader in Japan, will host this English-language webinar, entitled "Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Initiative – as contribution to the international peace, stability and prosperity". The event will take the form of a lecture, followed by a Q&A session.
According to the organisers, Japan is a country that cultivated close relations with both the Trump and Biden administrations, taking into account the fact that the United States remains an important ally in Asia. During the Trump era, the US adopted the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) initiative, which was originally conceived by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Despite the shift in policies, the new Biden administration appears to continue to implement the FOIP initiative.
In Asia, there has been a change in power balance that is gradually moving from the US and its allies and shifting towards China, leading these two superpowers to struggle for regional and global primacy.
The organisers maintained that, together with the US and likeminded actors, Japan is increasing its efforts to maintain the regional stability and order, which is continuously challenged by a progressively assertive China. Japan's approach towards China does not reflect a simple-minded, old containment policy. On the contrary, Sino-Japanese economic relations continue to operate despite China's assertive territorial challenge.
During this webinar, Tsuneo "Nabe" Watanabe, who spent ten years researching Asian security issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), will discuss Japan's strategic rationale for the FOIP as a contribution to international peace, stability and prosperity in the era of US-China rivalry.
Tsuneo Watanabea is a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, an independent policy research organisation in Tokyo. In October 2016, Mr Watanabe joined the Sasakawa Peace Foundation after serving as senior fellow and director of foreign and security policy research at the Tokyo Foundation from 2009 to 2016. He served as senior fellow at the Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute in Tokyo from 2005 to 2009. In 1995, Mr Watanabe joined the CSIS, a US thinktank in Washington, D.C., where he served as visiting research scholar, research associate, fellow and senior fellow until 2005. He is currently adjunct fellow of the CSIS Schedule.
To register for this webinar, which will be held via Cisco Webex, contact the Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg via email: culture.embjapan@lx.mofa.go.jp
Venue: Online (Cisco Webex)
Organiser: Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg; University of Luxembourg
Price: n/a
Reservations: See above
