ARCHIVED Taiwan tensions – implications for China, the US, Japan and Europe
Date
Monday 12 September 2022
Time
1.00 - 2.00pm (BST)
9.00 - 10.00pm (JST)
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Booking Details
Free – Donations Welcome
Registration essential
As tensions increase around the island of Taiwan, Japan Society chair Bill Emmott is joined by two experts who have long watched the ebb and flow of politics and diplomatic relations in the region: Yasuhiro Matsuda, professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia and Meia Nouwens, Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The visit to Taiwan on 2 August by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, was immediately condemned by the People’s Republic of China, which commenced unprecedentedly large and intrusive joint naval and air force exercises in the area encircling Taiwan. Against the backdrop of the blockade style drills, and the launching of ballistic missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the flow of high profile visitors to Taiwan has continued, in a show of international support.
Where is this likely to lead, for Taiwan, for Japan, for Europe and for the United States in their relations with China? Join us to discuss the issue in the context of Xi Jinping’s likely assumption of a third term as leader of the CCP at this autumn’s congress, November’s G20 summit that is expected to include both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, and Japan’s revision of its National Security Strategy under Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
Yasuhiro Matsuda is Professor of international politics at Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. in law from Graduate School of Law at Keio University in Tokyo. He spent sixteen years in the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Japan Defense Agency (later, Ministry of Defense), as an assistant and a senior research fellow. He moved to the Institute of Oriental Culture (later, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia) of the University of Tokyo in 2008. He specializes in political and diplomatic history of Asia, politics and foreign relations in the PRC and Taiwan, the Cross-Strait Relations, and Japan’s foreign and security policies. He was a member of the Council on Security and Defense Capability in the New Era, the advisory group of the Prime Minister in 2010. He is the winner of the seventh Yasuhiro Nakasone Award of Excellence in 2011. He has published numerous books and articles in Japanese, English and Chinese.
Meia Nouwens is Senior Fellow for Chinese Defence Policy and Military Modernisation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). A Dutch national who spent part of her childhood in Taiwan, her expertise lies in China’s international relations, regional strategic affairs, and cross-service defence analysis, including of China's "Digital Silk Road". Prior to joining IISS, she worked for the European External Action Service as a policy officer in Taipei, and as a trade analyst in the EU’s delegation to New Zealand. She has previously worked in private-sector consulting firms and international organisations, on topics of foreign policy, security and defence.
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