The Japan Society

Upcoming Events

ARCHIVED The Effect of the Pandemic on Diplomatic and Commercial Relations with China

Thursday 21 May 2020 / 11:00am
The Effect of the Pandemic on Diplomatic and Commercial Relations with China

Date
Thursday 21 May 2020
Time
11.00am to 12.00 noon (BST)

Booking Details
Free – Donations Welcome
Registration essential

Booking deadline: Thursday 21 May – 10.00am (BST) 

Book online here

The activities of the Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. This event is free of charge and open to all. We realise that this is a difficult time for many people. However, if you are planning to attend, and are able to consider becoming a member or making a donation, it would be hugely appreciated.


In our next webinar we turn our attention to China, when Professors Kerry Brown and Akio Takahara join Japan Society chairman, Bill Emmott, in conversation. Both are long-time watchers of developments in modern China and experts on its politics and economy.

China was where the COVID-19 pandemic began, was the country which offered early lessons in what to do and what not to do, and is now the major leading indicator of how economies and societies will fare in the early stages of reopening. But it divides opinion even more than with trade wars and 5G before the crisis, with politicians in Europe, Australia and the US calling for investigations of its responsibility for the crisis and with companies and policy makers thinking hard about the dangers of supply chains that are overly dependent on China.

How far will the global economic crash result in a realignment of political and economic influence? What does the post-pandemic future hold for US-China relations as well as for future relations with Japan and the UK, in both governmental and private sectors?

Professor Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at Kings College, London. He is the author of over ten books on modern Chinese politics, history and language, including China's World: What Does China Want? (2017). He has been Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia (2012-2015). Prior to this, he worked at Chatham House (2006-2012) as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. From 2011-2014, he directed the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN), giving policy advice to the European External Action Service. From 1998 to 2005, he worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including as First Secretary, British Embassy Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section.

Professor Akio Takahara is Professor of contemporary Chinese politics and diplomacy at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo. He spent several years as Visiting Scholar at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong (1989-1991), the Japanese Embassy in Beijing (1996-98) , the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University (2005-2006), and at the School of International Studies, Peking University (2014-2015). He has authored and edited many publications on East Asian Security, and Japan-China relations, including Modern History of Japan-China Relations (Yuhikaku Publishing Co., 2013, co-author, in Japanese).