Asia Pacific Memo update

The Institute of Asian Research’s Asia Pacific Memo is a new online publication on contemporary Asia.  

Current stories featured on the memo:  

Analyzing Falun Gong’s Effect on China since 1999

More than a decade has elapsed since some 21,000 adherents of the spiritual movement known as Falun Gong gathered in peaceful protest outside Beijing’s Zhongnanhai complex that was violently suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  A rethinking of Falun Gong and what it means is vital for understanding the political trajectory of post-Mao China. It is especially important to ask why the CCP overreacted to the alleged threat.

 Disputed Islands Crisis between Japan and China: Power Shift and Institutional Failure

Japan and China recently experienced intense confrontation over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands. More than an outdated conflict over Westphalian sovereignty in a period of intense globalization, it is about the shifting balance of power and the absence of bilateral and regional institutions to manage the shift.

 Mike Chinoy speaks about China¹s relationship with North Korea

Mike Chinoy is the former Senior Asia Correspondent at CNN. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the U.S. ­China Institute at the University of Southern California.  In a four-part video interview at the Institute of Asian Research at UBC, Chinoy speaks about the divisions on North Korea among the Chinese leadership. 

Governance by Religion Growing Strong in Malaysia: Bureaucratic Islam and Secular Sharia

Political rivalry between Malaysia’s two largest Muslim parties and an emerging Muslim civil society are causes of the increased impact of Islam in Malaysia. But Islam in the Malaysian polity is also appearing in an unexpected form: as part of a secularizing bureaucracy. 

View the full memo at http://www.asiapacificmemo.ca/