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This paper discusses how Taiwanese overseas investment creates an ethnic Chinese skilled labor market in Asia. Low costs, no language barrier, and the cultural "lived Taiwan experience" are the benefits. Through three different channels--internal corporate transfer, social networks, and placement agencies--skilled labor from the People's Republic is mobilized to work overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article narrates a remarkable endeavor, a venture into the colonial ethnography of borderland mountain societies of today's northern Vietnam, then upland Tonkin, from the unlikely cultural perspective of the military. This venture, commissioned by Governors Generals Paul Doumer and Paul Beau, was conducted a little over a century ago, yielding over four thousand manuscript pages penned by seventy different authors. First, I consider the logic of the militarization of the northern borderlands at the end of the nineteenth century, a strategic policy that triggered the launch of two surveys in 1897 and 1903. I then examine the methods used in the performance of these surveys and, building upon material from the original documents, I comment on the mindset of the officers who performed this task and on the strength of this material for anthropological research today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast aging in Northeast Asia has significant implications for the geopolitics and security dynamics of the region. The long-term impact of graying populations and substantial increases in social security spending might limit the regional arms race. By 2030, Japan, South Korea, and China will become too old for military rivalry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses public perceptions about the idea of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, focusing on obstacles to the formation of the regional community. Based on public opinion surveys, the authors note obstacles facing regional integration in Southeast Asia such as disparity in education levels, the lack of economic competitiveness of many ASEAN countries, and countries' dependency on aid from developed countries. Other topics include socioeconomic disparity, varying legal and political systems in ASEAN countries, and technological limitations in ASEAN countries.

The article focuses on the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) agreement in 2010 which has established an Asian financial arrangement to aid in solving currency or liquidity crises. It notes the agreement's significant implications on financial cooperation and the broader process of institutionalizing international relations in the Asia-Pacific. It also cites the international politics and institutional features that contribute to the CMIM. Furthermore, it mentions the potential of CMIM and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to work at cross purposes and provide conflicting guidance to borrowing countries.

The article focuses on how globalization affects Asian economies and government expenditure. Two theories are presented on whether globalization has led to reduced political influence and eroded economies, known as the efficiency hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. The link between globalization and democratization is explored, with a focus on how neoliberal economic and social policies influence public sector spending. Several charts are presented showing Asian economic growth, domestic spending, and trade openness.

In this article the author examines aspects of Russian foreign policy, concentrating on Russian relations with Southeast Asia. In analyzing the greater attempts to impose Russian influence on the region under the direction of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the author examines relations with countries that are members of ASEAN and those that are not. Of particular importance is an examination of the prominence of Southeast Asian countries in Russian determination to become a major actor in the region.

In this article the author examines the elements that led to the Chiang Mai Initiative, a financial agreement among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The author notes that the initiative was a significant demonstration of financial cooperation among the countries of East Asia. The principal focus of the article is a comparison between the successful Chiang Mai Initiative and the failed attempt to form an Asian Monetary Fund that was proposed for the region in 1997.

This study identifies contrasts that exist between majority and minority respondents to a national survey conducted during 1993 in the People's Republic of China. It finds that members of China's minority communities prove less forthcoming when participating in survey interviews in comparison to individuals belonging to the Han majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction to a series of articles on the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis including "A Decade After the Asian Financial Crisis: Regionalism and International Architecture in a Globalized World," "Foreign Portfolio Investors and Financial Sector Stability in Asia," "From Political Reform and Economic Crisis to coup d'etat in Thailand: The Twists and Turns of the Political Economy, 1997-2006," "The Politics of Economic Reform in South Korea: Crony Capitalism after Ten Years," "Malaysia Ten Years After the Asian Financial Crisis," Singapore's Political Economy, 1997-2007: Strategizing Economic Assurance for Globalization," "Taiwan's Developmental State: After the Economic and Political Turmoil," and "The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the Revival of Populism/Neo-Populism in 21st Century Philippine Politics."

The China-driven rise of Asia to the center of the global political economy since the Asian financial crisis under systems of political economy manifestly different from those of the Washington Consensus poses a challenge that has been met by neither helter-skelter Asian regionalism nor by American strategic inattentiveness of the past decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A careful review of the Asian crisis in 1997 reveals that despite widespread denunciation, hedge funds and other portfolio investors played only a minor role in the making of the crisis. To maintain financial sector stability, therefore, governments should focus on avoiding inconsistent policies rather than try to identify a "bad" class of investors and limit their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the unpopularity in Japan of American military unilateralism, Japan has continued to support U.S. actions abroad in order to bolster the bilateral security alliance. Public support in Japan for an active foreign policy reflects realist thinking there about new international threats, as well as changes in domestic politics that shape the public's response to those threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic politics combined with strategic repositioning toward the U.S. set back ties between Japan and South Korea in 2004-05. Despite the North Korean nuclear crisis and the challenge of shifting great power relations in Asia, as well as closer economic and cultural bilateral ties, politicized forces are pulling the two countries apart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politicians and parties may devise informal norms of behavior to help assure their political survival following the adoption of a new electoral system. This article focuses on the development and consequences of "Costa Rica" arrangements — an alternation strategy used in Japan's new electoral system for the lower house. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines whether Confucian Asian values are incompatible with liberal democracy. Analyses of the East Asia Barometer Survey conducted in South Korea reveal that attachment to those values makes it more difficult to reject authoritarian rule than to embrace democracy. These findings suggest that Asian values detract from cultural democratization primarily by keeping the mass public oriented toward the virtues of authoritarian politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asia-Europe Meeting framework was created in 1996, its primary purpose being to fortify relations between the East Asian region and the European Union. Moreover, ASEM partners must not only concern themselves with developing closer interregional ties but also attend to the significant global impact of their partnership, and thus the responsibilities that lie therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]