Japan Symposium 2020
In collaboration with Japanese Consulate in Perth, the Perth USAsia Centre convened the Japan Symposium 2020 in February. This is the third annual iteration of a forum for policymakers, business and academic leaders to discuss issues of shared concern in the Indo-Pacific.
On Monday 17 February, a private full day dialogue was held followed by a public event on Tuesday 18 February.
This year’s Symposium explored the topic Australia, Japan and India: Strengthening trilateral strategic relationships. It brought together senior officials, experts and strategic thinkers from Australia, Japan and India. The Symposium facilitated expert-led discussion about the complex strategic challenges the three nations face in the Indo-Pacific region, and enhance cooperation between them in the economic and security realms.
Speakers
His Excellency Reiichiro Takahashi
His Excellency Reiichiro Takahashi is the Ambassador of Japan to Australia, since being appointed in February 2019. Prior to this assignment, Ambassador Takahashi served as Consul-General at the Consulate General of Japan in New York. Ambassador Takahashi has served as Director-General of the International Peace Cooperation Headquarters, Cabinet Office from 2012-2015. He has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for over 35 years. He held the position of Deputy Director- General, Economic Cooperation Bureau, Ministry of Foreign affairs (2006-2007), as well as Director, Management and Coordination Division, Ministerial Secretariat, (2004- 2006), Press Division (2001-2003) and First South-East Asia Division (1999-2001). His diplomatic postings include assignments to Japanese Embassies in Afghanistan as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from 2011-2012, The Republic of Korea as Minister (2007-2011), India as Minister (2003- 2004), USA as Counsellor (1997-1999) and the Philippines as First Secretary (1994-1997). Ambassador Takahashi obtained a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tokyo University.
Dr Priya Chacko
Dr Priya Chacko is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Adelaide and a Visiting Academic Fellow of the Australia-India Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Chacko specialises in the politics, political economy and foreign policy of India, and the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Indo-Pacific region with a particular focus on the economics-security nexus and contestations over regional order. She has published extensively on these issues in academic outlets and contributes commentary on these topics for the Australian and international media. She has been a part of the Australian delegations to the India-Australia 1.5 Track Defence Strategic Dialogue and an Indian Ocean Rim Association 1.5 Track Dialogue.
Dr Chacko is President of the South Asian Studies Association of Australia and is the South Asia Councillor for the Asian Studies Association of Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (International Relations)(Honours) from the University of Queensland and a PhD in Politics from the University of Adelaide.
Professor Nick Bisley
Nick Bisley is the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University. His research and teaching expertise is in Asia’s international relations, great power politics and Australian foreign and defence policy. Nick is a member of the advisory board of China Matters and a member of the Council for Security and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. He was Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs and been a Senior Research Associate of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. Nick is the author of many works on international relations, including Issues in 21st Century World Politics, 3rd Edition (Palgrave, 2017), Great Powers in the Changing International Order (Lynne Rienner, 2012), and Building Asia’s Security (IISS/Routledge, 2009, Adelphi No. 408). He regularly contributes to and is quoted in national and international media including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Time Magazine.
Dr Rajeswari Rajagopalan
Dr. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan is Distinguished Fellow and Head of the Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative at Observer Research Foundation. She is also a senior Asia defence writer for The Diplomat. Dr. Rajagopalan joined ORF after a five-year stint at the National Security Council Secretariat (2003-2007), where she was an Assistant Director. Prior to joining the NSCS, she was Research Officer at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. She was also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan in 2012.
Dr. Rajagopalan has lectured at Indian military and policy institutions such as the Defence Service and Staff College (Wellington), National Defence College (New Delhi), Army War College (Mhow), and the Foreign Service Institute (New Delhi). She has also been invited to speak at international fora including the UN COPUOS (Vienna), Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), UNIDIR (Geneva), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the European Union.
Professor Akiko Fukushima
Dr. Akiko Fukushima is a Professor, School of Global Studies and Collaboration, Aoyama Gakuin University with a Doctoral degree from Osaka University and M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Her carrier includes Adjunct Professor of the Law School at Keio University, Director of Policy Studies at the National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), Senior Fellow at the Japan Foundation and a visiting scholar of CSIS, US.
Concurrently Dr Fukushima has served on the Japanese government committees including the Advisory Council on National Security and Defense Capabilities to the Prime Minister in 2013. Her publications include Japanese Foreign Policy: The Emerging Logic of Multilateralism (1999) by MacMillan, Conflict and Cultural Diplomacy (2012) by Keio University Press, . She has also contributed chapters including “Multilateralism Recalibrated,” in Postwar Japan (CSIS 2017).
Professor Gordon Flake
Professor L. Gordon Flake is the founding CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre, a position he assumed in January of 2014. He was previously Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, a Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States and prior to that Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America
