Centre for Northeast Asian Studies Webinar Report on ‘The post-Covid 19 world order and Northeast Asia’ 12 November 2021
Report
Anubhav Shankar Goswami
Research Assistant, Centre for Northeast Asian Studies
Jindal School of International Affairs
O.P Jindal Global University
Email: asgoswami@jgu.edu.in
Divyanshu Jindal
Research Assistant, Centre for Northeast Asian Studies
Jindal School of International Affairs
O.P Jindal Global University
Email: djindal@jgu.edu.in
Centre for Northeast Asian Studies, a dedicated platform by Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA) for research on Northeast Asia, organized its inaugural webinar – The post-Covid 19 world order and Northeast Asia – on 12 November 2021.
The event started with the opening remarks delivered by Professor and Dean of JSIA, Dr. Sreeram Chaulia. He extended a warm welcome to all the participating eminent scholars – Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, Ex Envoy / Ambassador to Canada & South Korea Foreign Office Spokesman, Prof. Purnendra Jain, Emeritus Professor, Department of Asian Studies. The University of Adelaide, Prof. Yee-Kuang Heng, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Ayae Yashimoto, Researcher, Formerly at National Chengchi University, Dr. Young Chul Cho, Associate Professor, School of International Studies, Jeonbuk National University, Ikue Kawauchi, Researcher and Consultant Bangera’s Global Consulting Inc. Tokyo, Prof. Mumin Chen and Naina Singh, Professor, National Chung Hsing University of Taiwan/Doctoral Candidate, National Chung Hsing University of Taiwan, Dr. Raymond Lau, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University (NSU) and Dr.Fang Tien-tze, Associate Professor, National Tsing Hua University.
The webinar began with a keynote speech by Ambassador Prakash who spoke about the persistent lack of American resolve in challenging Chinese belligerence from trade to geopolitics. When asked about possible American commitment of defending Taiwan from Chinese forceful unification, Ambassador Prakash opined that such an assurance looks bleak due to poor political and military resolve of the U.S in calling out China’s aggressions in recent years.
The keynote speech was followed by the first session on Japanese and South Korean views on post-Covid world order. The session was moderated by Dr. Jabin Jacob.
The first speaker of the session Prof. Purnendu Jain argued that in a post-covid world, Japan’s ability to juggle between engaging China economically to balancing China by way of security cooperation with the U.S will be increasingly difficult. Prof. Jain said that China’s numerous punitive actions against Japan like the ‘weaponisation’ of supply chain to hurt Japanese economy has forced Tokyo to pursue a tighter embrace of U.S both economically and militarily. On the question of economic security that has gained renewed focus due to supply chain disruption by Covid-19, Ayae Yashimoto talked about how Japan is trying to enhance its economic security deterrence by making other countries recognize that Japan is economically “indispensable.” Yoshimoto said that by expanding Japan’s presence in the global supply chain, Tokyo intends to achieve indispensability. On the other hand, Prof. Yee-Kuang Heng talked about how Japan is deepening its ties with Britain to diversify its defense and economic ties keeping in mind the unfolding uncertainty of the post-covid world that requires greater flexibility in foreign policy. He highlighted some of the recent key events in their bilateral relations like an agreement between the two nations to comments formal negotiations on Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) to deepen the defence relationship. The session also shifted to a discussion on India-Japan relations. Ikue Kawauchi, an experienced operator of India-Japan relations, pointed how Japanese companies can leverage an India on the cusp of economic leapfrogging to achieve economies of scale.
Putting his country’s view on the emerging post-covid world order, Dr. Young Chul Cho of South Korea said that young South Koreans want continuity of the liberal international world order. Talking more on the matter, Dr Cho said that this commitment to liberal values put young South Korean at odds with illiberal impulses of Beijing. Therefore, South Korean youths have strong anti-Beijing views and feels China’s rise is a threat to liberal values. The session concluded with a brief discussion on the raised points by the panelists and a short Q&A session.
The second session revolved around the perspectives from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The session was chaired and moderated by Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli. The panel for the session consisted of Prof Mumin Chen, Ms. Naina Singh, Dr. Raymond Lau, and Dr. Fang Tien-tze.
Prof Kondapalli started the session by thanking Prof. Pathak and the Centre for Northeast Asian Studies. He highlighted the statistics regarding the COVID-19 infections in Northeast Asian states, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and India. Prof Chen focused on the Taiwanese situation pertaining to the pandemic. He explained how lack of international support and absence of WHO membership has affected Taiwan’s response to the pandemic, despite being the first one to discover and inform about the COVID-19. Ms. Naina raised the point of ‘health’ becoming a part of political discourse in Taiwan to understand why Taiwan reacted to the pandemic the way it did. She emphasized on the point that Taiwan has taken important cues from the SARS pandemic to formulate policy and strategy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Lau discussed the showdown between the Chinese BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) and the Indo-Pacific in the post COVID-19 world order. He highlighted that China’s foreign policy is driven by Beijing’s desire to demonstrate its self-confidence and belief that China can offer a model of economic development as an alternative to western model for the world. He further opined that the current Chinese premier Xi Jinping has led to a radical departure of the three-decade logic of ‘keeping a low profile’ under former leader Deng Xiaoping. Today, the core concept is ‘national rejuvenation’. The next panelist- Dr. Fang, outlined the Chinese Foreign Policy, policy under Xi Jinping, and implications for Indo-Pacific. He explained the various factors which construct the Chinese foreign policy, and the legacy of Deng Xiaoping’s thought. He raised the topics of Xi’s Chinese Dream, Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics of a New Era, the advent of the ‘Chinese Century’, and the Chinese perception of the world. He also highlighted ‘ping shi’ diplomacy- The world view from an equal footing. He argued how despite commitments to the peaceful development, China has not shown considerable actions toward peaceful resolution to territorial disputes. China’s wolf warrior diplomacy was also discussed by multiple panelists, which led to the conclusion of how China has failed to build a benign image of China’s contribution to the world through propaganda.
The session concluded with Dr. Pathak summarizing the key points raised throughout the event by the panelists and what India can learn from the experiences of Northeast Asia for the post-COVID-19 world order. The roundtable event concluded with Dr. Panigrahi delivering the vote of thanks to all the panelists, scholars, and attendees.