21 June 2012
6:00 – 7:45pm, followed by a drinks reception to 8:45pm
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
With the rise of non-Western nations in the new world order, the need for international cooperation and global governance on economic, financial and security issues has never been greater. But the emerging multipolar order does not seem to have contributed to global stability so far. The US, the EU and Japan are working to persuade the BRICS to take multilateral institutions more seriously, though the US itself often seems ambivalent about multilateralism. Most European governments know that they have a big interest in effective multilateral institutions. The behaviour of Russia and China – both veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council – is particularly crucial in dealing with global challenges, including climate change and peace-keeping operations. What is Japan’s role within global institutions such as the G20, the WTO and the UN? Can the EU and Japan help nudge Russia and China towards a more serious engagement with global governance issues? Japan is in a difficult position in this respect, since Russia and China are its immediate neighbours and it has complex issues with both countries. But this makes it all the more important for Japan that both countries become responsible members of multinational institutions, and respect global governance. Our three speakers will discuss Russia, China and global governance issues from their own varying perspectives.
Charles Grant
Charles Grant is Director of the Centre of European Reform (CER). He studied Modern History at Cambridge University and joined The Economist in 1986 where he wrote about the City. He was posted to Brussels in 1989 to cover the European Community, before becoming the Defence Editor in London from 1993. He left The Economist to become the first Director of the CER in 1998. He was a Director and Trustee of the British Council from 2002 to 2008, and is a regular contributor to the Financial Timesand The Guardian, amongst other publications. He has authored many CER publications. These includeCan Europe and China shape a new world order?(2008), Cameron’s Europe: can the Conservatives achieve their EU objectives? (2009), and Russia, China and Global Governance (2012).
Akira Imamura
Akira Imamura is Minister and Consul General at the Embassy of Japan in the UK. He was stationed in Moscow three times between the 1980s and 2000s. After graduating from Tokyo University in 1984, he served for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has served as Director, Russia Assistance Division (2002), and Director, Central and South Eastern Europe Division (2003), in Tokyo. During his last stay in Moscow, he gave numerous interviews to the Russian media on various themes including territorial issues and the nuclear accident in Fukushima. He has co-authored a book: The Atlas Book of Russia and CIS Countries (Diamond, Inc., 1993).
Professor Urs Matthias Zachmann
Professor Urs Matthias Zachmann is the Handa Professor of Japanese-Chinese Relations at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated from Heidelberg University (MA, PhD) and completed his Habilitation in Japanese Studies at the University of Munich. He is also qualified as an attorney at law in Germany and is a member of the bar. His fields of specialization are Japan’s international relations (with a special focus on China), law and legal sociology in East Asia, and the political and intellectual history of modern Japan. Among his most recent publications are: China and Japan in the Late Meiji Period: China Policy and the Japanese Discourse on National Identity, 1895-1904(Routledge, 2009/11) and International Law in Japan: War and Visions of International Order in the International Legal Discourse of Japan, 1919-1960 (Nomos, 2012).
Gideon Rachman (Chair)
Gideon Rachman became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the Financial Times after a 15-year career atThe Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation. He was named foreign commentator of the year in Britain’s annual Comment Awards in 2010. His first book, Zero-sum World: Politics, Power and Prosperity After the Crash (Atlantic Books) was published in 2010.
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