Analysis
BETWEEN EAST AND WEST: RUSSIA IN NORTHEAST ASIA
by Yuri Tsyganov. (This is an abridged version of a paper presented
at 8th biennial conference of the Australasian Association for Communist
and Post-Communist Studies at the University of Melbourne, 29 - 30 January
2007)
Russia’s dealings with northeast Asia are driven by
the overwhelmingly pro-Western orientation of the Russian political elite.
Thus relations with its Asian neighbours are primarily used to offset weaknesses
and disappointments in Russia’s dialogue with the West.
Russia and China
The Iraq war prompted China and Russia to pay more attention
to their strategic partnership and to find a counterbalance to the only superpower
in the world. A joint Sino-Russian statement in July 2005 renounced “monopoly
or domination of world affairs”. This was backed up the following August
by the first Sino-Russian joint military manoeuvres. While these were officially
said to be about combating terrorist groups, they actually looked more like
exercises in fighting a regular army. Russia was also the first country with
whom China has established a mechanism for bilateral strategic consultations.
While economic ties have strengthened significantly, these
are not without their problems for Russia:
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China has been the largest single importer of Russian
arms but its purchases are in decline to allow the military time to “digest”
the new equipment acquired from Russia.
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By 2010 China plans to import 30 million tons of Russian
oil a year. China will, however, be able to set down the terms and conditions
of purchase given that Russia’s share in total imports is expected
to be less than 12 per cent.
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In March 2006 the two countries signed agreements on
gas and electricity supplies but failed to resolve disputes about price.
This remains a major stumbling block.
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Russia may be losing its position in the lucrative nuclear
energy market. In December 2006 the Russian company building the Tianwan
nuclear plant lost the tender to build four reactors for two other nuclear
plants in China.
Demographic factors are also an issue. During last 15 years
the population of the Russian Far East declined by nearly 10 per cent. However
the region is seeing an increasing flow of illegal immigration from China,
something Russia must decide how to manage.
Russia and Japan
Japanese perceptions of a growing Chinese threat may become
a driving force for improved Russo-Japanese relations. Moscow and Tokyo are
again exploring ways to resolve a long standing dispute over the Kurile Islands
(the Northern Territories), with recent discussion including the idea of splitting
the islands’ total area between the two countries.
As Japan strives to reduce its dependence on oil from the
Middle East, it is showing interest in Russia’s supplies of oil and
natural gas and has been successful in persuading Moscow to build an oil pipeline
from East Siberia to the Pacific, bypassing China.
Russia and North Korea
Russia has mostly played a role of passive observer at the
six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program. It has, however, increased
the supply of oil to the North Korean regime and there are reports that North
Korea has offered Russia exclusive rights to its uranium deposits in exchange
for support at the talks. This suggests that Russia is trying to re-establish
its influence in the north of the Korean Peninsula.
To conclude, Russia has failed to develop an integrated policy
towards Northeast Asia. It shows little real interest in Asian affairs, with
its main objective simply to demonstrate its presence there. While Russia
continues to subordinate its economic interests to a political agenda, it
will find itself the weaker side in the Sino-Russian dialogue; prevented from
achieving real progress in relations with Japan; and without a consistent
and transparent policy on the two Koreas.
Links:
RECLAIMING ANGKOR
by Francesca Beddie, editor, Asian Currents
Like the ruins of the ancient Khmer capital, Angkor, modern-day
Cambodia is emerging back into the world after the isolation imposed by the
Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and 1980s.
Nevertheless, Cambodia remains one of the world's least developed
countries. It is highly dependent on rice which, while less than 30 per cent
of agricultural output by value, is grown by about 80 per cent of rural families
on some 90 per cent of the country's total cultivated land area. It was also
rice that helped sustain the Khmer empire and enabled its kings to build their
extraordinary palaces and temples.
Those ornate buildings, lost to the outside world for centuries,
are now the fuel for Cambodia's burgeoning tourism industry, growing at around
30 per cent a year, with almost 1.3 million people visiting in 2005.
Tourism is, however, bringing new problems, in particular
to Angkor. Hotels and other infrastructure are being constructed without proper
knowledge of what remains of the vast city below.
Fortunately, the magnificence of Angkor put it onto the World
Heritage List, and multi-national efforts to protect it mean it is no longer
classified as an endangered site, although UNESCO has identified the next
ten years as the critical period of development for Angkor.
One of those multi-national collaborations is the Greater
Angkor Project (GAP) based at the University of Sydney. It has brought together
French, Cambodian and Australian researchers across many disciplines. These
include archaeologists, remote sensing experts, palaeo-botanists, hydraulic
engineers and soil scientists who are seeking to find out what happened to
the ancient city and to discover the true scale of its low density settlement.
The University of Sydney's archaeological team is discovering
how the Khmer engineers of the Middle Ages channelled water into an enormous
infrastructure of reservoirs, canals and embankments for practical as well
as symbolic reasons. Their findings are casting new light on how such a sophisticated
society could be reclaimed by the surrounding jungle and may also give insights
to other archaeologists about how to combine social and ecological approaches
to their investigations. In addition, future urban planners may well glean
important lessons about the risks of engineering nature.
Another aspect of the University of Sydney's engagement with
Angkor is the 'The Living with Heritage' project. This project seeks to help
the Cambodians meet the conflicting demands of conservation, economic development
and social equity at a World Heritage site. The project aims to create a monitoring
system to assist in implementing heritage policies that can achieve sustainable
development of a type which is integrated with, and sensitive to, community
needs, rights and aspirations.
The complex of research activity at Angkor is demonstrating
the power of interdisciplinary collaboration both across academic disciplines
and between universities, government agencies and consulting companies around
the world. It not only bodes well for the resuscitation of the magnificent
city for its Cambodian inhabitants and their visitors but may also offer us
all lessons about the very nature of societal collapse.
Comments on this article may be directed to the editor at
fbeddie@ozemail.com.au
Links:
Profile
This month we profile Michael Leigh, Professor
of Contemporary Asia at the Asia Institute and incoming President of the Asian
Studies Association of Australian http://www.asiainstitute.unimelb.edu.au/people/staff/leigh.html
Q: When did you become interested in studying
Asia and why?
A: As a student it was important to me to explore just what
it was to be an Australian. Many of my peers asserted that identity in reactive
terms: that is we are not British, we are not American. Understanding what
is special about Australia has a lot to do with our location in Asia, in a
region of vitality and some considerable uncertainty. At university we were
privileged to study side-by-side with Colombo Plan students, whose very presence
shattered many pre-existing caricatures of Asia, reinforced by the Pacific
war and going right back to the gold rushes. Teachers such as Hugo Wolfson
and MacMahon Ball actively encouraged thinking far beyond an Anglo-centred
view of the world.
One of the clear obstacles to developing understanding was
the white Australia policy. My own political initiation was as an activist
in the Immigration Reform Group, in a year when the Sharpeville massacre underlined
the dire consequences of racialism, of efforts to maintain an order based
upon the myth of European superiority.
Q: What are your current preoccupations?
A: In the years since commencing undergraduate research in
what became Malaysia, and in Indonesia, my prime interest remains the interplay
between economic and political sources of power. Those puzzles are as relevant
today as ever, and go a long way to inform our understanding of the contemporary
scene. While moving along that path I inaugurated the Institute of East Asian
Studies at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (1997-2003), taught at the University
of Sydney (1970-1996) and headed the Department of Government & Public
Administration, established Kolej Antarabangsa in Penang, and took responsibility
for the program for the development of the social sciences throughout Indonesian
Universities and Islamic Institutes, based at Universitas Indonesia and Universitas
Syiah Kuala in Aceh (1978-1981). Colleagues from my doctoral study at Cornell
remain very important.
My own current preoccupations also relate to the issues of
‘nation-retention’, of how and why the European-derived boundaries
of the nation-states of the region have been reified and maintained, almost
at any cost. My research now includes a comparative examination of the processes
of incorporation of the resource-rich provinces of Aceh and Sarawak within
their respective nation-states.
Q: How do these fit into the contemporary
scene?
A: To me what is important is that so much of the path breaking
research and teaching on Asia is informed by the vitality and rigour of disciplinary
study and grounded in local knowledge. That is the domain where there is so
much scope for collegial linkages, those that stretch across national boundaries
and inevitably involve international scholarly communities.
Since taking up the Directorship of the Asia Institute at
the University of Melbourne, much of my energies have been devoted to helping
re-establish research training in Aceh in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami,
and doing so in collaboration with a consortium of eight Australian and four
Indonesian Universities.
Q: What are your hopes for Asian studies
in Australia?
A: The Aceh Research Training Institute is an example of
the type of co-operative endeavours that underline Australia’s more
mature relationship with the region. All of our contributions take place in
conjunction with colleagues from Aceh, from elsewhere in Indonesia and also
from other ASEAN nations. The underwriting of this new three-year program
comes from the Myer Foundation and AusAID. The clear challenge is to facilitate
critical research, the results of which can also feed into evidence-based
policy making. We do so in a province that for the previous twenty years had
been debilitated by civil conflict, and where there was every reason not to
ask probing questions. As students of the region, our principal task to enquire,
to challenge accepted wisdom, and to share that critical perspective with
our colleagues, irrespective of national origins.
Researcher of the month
Dr Vicki Crinis
Vicki Crinis, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University
of Wollongong’s Centre for Asia-Pacific Social Transformation Studies
(CAPSTRANS), started her university studies as a mature age student. She completed
a BA (Honours) majoring in English Literature and Southeast Asian Studies
at the University of Wollongong. She had not planned to study Southeast Asian
history, but at the time had four young children and had to choose subjects
that were taught during school hours. In the first year Ben Kiernan’s
lectures on Southeast Asia inspired her interest in a past that put more recent
events, such as the Vietnam War and the Race Riots in Malaysia,
in perspective. In the second year Melanie Beresford kindled her enthusiasm
for labour studies by questioning export-oriented industrialisation and the
feminisation of factory work in Southeast Asia. In her Honours year, Vicki
did a comparative study of the garment industry in Australia and Malaysia,
discovering that in many ways Australian garment workers were not any better
off than their Malaysian counterparts. The literature on light manufacturing
she read for her Honours thesis became the platform for a PhD. Under the supervision
of Jan Elliott and Adrian Vickers, Vicki examined the evolution of discourses
about women and work using colonial records and literature, Malaysian government
documents, Mahathir’s writings and contemporary media reports. Since
graduating in 2004, Vicki has been researching women and unions in Malaysia
and the garment industry in the Asia Pacific.
Website of the month
http://www.asianlii.org
The Asian Legal Information Institute is a gateway that allows
simultaneous searching of more than 100 databases containing legislation,
case-law, law reform reports and legal journals from 27 countries including
the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Mongolia and East Timor.
Recent article of interest
In 2007 the Australian Government will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum with a series of APEC meetings which began in January and culminated
in the leaders’ meeting in Sydney in September 2007. http://www.apec2007.org/
To set the scene, we draw your attention to a speech the Foreign Minister,
Alexander Downer, made to the East Asia Policy Forum in Los Angeles on 12
January. Here he argues that the United States needs to remain active and
involved not just in the commercial side of East Asia and its rapidly growing
economies, particularly China, but also in the security architecture of the
region. See http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/transcripts/2007/070112_eapf.html
Did you know?
A consortium of four universities: the University of New
England, the University of the Sunshine Coast, the University of Tasmania
and Charles Darwin University, has received significant funding ($369,000)
from the Collaboration and Structural Reform Fund to develop innovative ways
to teach Indonesian. The consortium will pool their Indonesian teaching and
curriculum development resources and, from 2009, will collaborate in providing
Indonesian at each of their institutions, as well as offering a 'blended model'
of face-to-face and online delivery at other regional universities. This will
include a short in-country programme at Universitas Mataram in Nusa Tenggara
Barat.
See http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/programmes_funding/programme_categories/key_priorities/collaboration_and_structural_reform_fund.htm
Diary dates
FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ACEH AND INDIAN
OCEAN STUDIES, 23-26 February 2007, Banda Aceh. The Asia Research
Institute, National University of Singapore, and the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Executing Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) are sponsoring a conference which
will cover topics as diverse as seismology, geology and environmental impact;
the history of Aceh and the Indian Ocean world; post-tsunami relief, reconstruction
and disaster mitigation; conflict resolution, peace-making and democratisation;and
Islam, law and society. See http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/
events_categorydetails.asp?categoryid=6&eventid=539
TRANSNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE ASIA PACIFIC,
22 March 2007, Canberra. A public forum hosted by the Department
of International Relations at the Australian National University will examine
how to tackle crimes such as illegal logging and timber smuggling, species
smuggling, the black market in ozone depleting substances, the illegal movement
of toxic and hazardous waste and other prohibited chemicals. 9.00 am to 3.30
pm at the Innovations Lecture Theatre, cnr Eggleston and Garran Roads on the
ANU campus. Registration $77.00 ($28.00 for students). See http://rspas.anu.edu.au/ir/tec
or contact Lorraine.Elliott@anu.edu.au
GLOBAL SECURITY ASIA 2007, 27-29 March 2007, Singapore.
Global Security Asia 2007 www.globalsecasia.com will be a forum for the international
homeland security industry to showcase their latest equipment, systems and
services in order to meet the current and future demands in the Asia Pacific
region. Austrade will coordinate an Australian National Stand at this exhibition
and offers a business and support services to participants. Contact Christopher
Soh, Senior Business Development Manager, Austrade Singapore, christopher.soh@austrade.gov.au
SOUTH ASIA ENGAGED, 27-29 April 2007, Los Angeles.
The South Asian Studies Alliance is hosting its foundation conference with
a focus on how South Asia is being integrated into the world. The proposal
deadline is 18 February 2007. See http://sasia.org
CHINESE STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA, 10th Biennial
Conference, 27-29 June 2007, Brisbane. Griffith University, will
be hosting the conference at Southbank in Brisbane. Watch the website for
details: http://www.csaa.org.au/news.html
2ND ASIAN AUSTRALIAN IDENTITIES conference, 28-30
June 2007, Melbourne. The organisers welcome papers and presentations
exploring Asian Australian identities, histories, cultures and politics. All
presentations should be of 20 minutes duration. Abstracts (max 200 words)
and a short bio (max 200 words) should be sent to admin@asianaustralianstudies.org
or contact the convenors, tseen.khoo@arts.monash.edu.au
or jacqueline.lo@anu.edu.au
IN SEARCH OF RECONCILIATION AND PEACE IN INDONESIA,
workshop 19 and 20 July 2007, Singapore. The Indonesia Study Group,
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore is holding an interdisciplinary
workshop to examine approaches to reconciliation and peace in Indonesia. Its
aim is to provide insights into ways forward not only for Indonesia, but for
conflict situations much more broadly. http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg
or contact the convenor, Dr Birgit Bräuchler aribb@nus.edu.sg
You are welcome to advertise Asia-related events in this
space. Send details to: fbeddie@ozemail.com.au.
Feedback
What would be useful for you? Human interest stories, profiles
of successful graduates of Asian studies, more news about what's on, moderated
discussions on topical issues? Send your ideas to fbeddie@ozemail.com.au
About the ASAA
The Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) promotes
the study of Asian languages, societies, cultures, and politics in Australia,
supports teaching and research in Asian studies and works towards an understanding
of Asia in the community at large. It publishes the Asian Studies Review
journal and holds a biennial conference. ASAA and the Centre for Language
Studies at National University of Singapore also co-publish an annual supplementary
issue of the Centre's fully peer-reviewed electronic Foreign Language Teaching
Journal (e-FLT). See http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg
The ASAA believes there is an urgent need to develop a strategy to preserve,
renew and extend Australian expertise about Asia. It has called on the government
to show national leadership in the promotion of Australia’s Asia knowledge
and skills. See Maximizing Australia's Asia Knowledge Repositioning and
Renewal of a National Asset http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/asia-knowledge-book-v70.pdf
Asian Currents is published by the
Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ASAA/
thanks to a grant from the International Centre of Excellence for Asia Pacific
Studies (ICEAPS) http://iceaps.anu.edu.au.
It is edited by Francesca Beddie. The editorial board consists of Robert Cribb,
ASAA President, Michele Ford, ASAA Secretary, Mina Roces, ASAA Publications
officer, Tamara Jacka, ASAA Council member, and Ann Kumar, Director, ICEAPS.
