GEOSTRATEGY IN THE GRASSROOTS

Thanks to all for participating in the virtual discussion on March 24th 2021 (at 6PM, CDT)/the 25th (8AM, JST).

Watch the recorded video here!

Join us for our virtual disscussion on March 24th. We are honored to host two experts on the subject of the past, current and future Indo-Pacific security and multilateral strategic cooperation.

Through this program, we would like to be able to open up our mental windows to understand the politics of current security issues in the Indo-Pacific region, including such factors as diplomacy, business interests, the possibility of military intervention, and the ideologies of all the actors involved.

We want to inform the Austin and Central Texas communities about how the nations of the Indo-Pacific are responding to increasing Chinese activities in the East and South-East Sea and Indo-Pacific Ocean. What are the strategies of the U.S. and Japan in response to China's behavior in view of its political ideologies and cultural values?

We will feature expert speakers Professor Nobukatsu Kanehara and Ambassador David F. Shear, who will discuss the current and future status of multilateral strategic cooperation on security issues and how these factors will affect daily life in each country in the Indo-Pacific region. Among the issues to be discussed will be the US-Japan relationship, the QUAD alliance, and the political values and economic status of each nation. We will also invite Dr. Patricia Maclachlan from the University of Texas at Austin Department of Government and Asian Studies Department to serve as moderator.
                 
   Amb. David B. Shear              Prof. Nobukatsu Kanehara              Dr. Patricia Maclachlan (moderator)

David B. Shear is an American diplomat who was a career Foreign Service Officer. Shear served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs from July 2014 to June 2016. Prior to his nomination for this position, he served as United States Ambassador to Vietnam. He was also formerly deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the U.S. Department of State; he joined the State Department in 1982 and has served in Washington, Sapporo, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

Ambassador Shear is a chairman of the National Association of Japan-America Societies and a senior adviser at McLarty Associates, a global strategic advisory firm. 

Nobukatsu Kanehara is a Faculty of Law Department of Political Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan. He served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, he also became the inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat. He also served as deputy director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office.  Mr. Kanehara served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director-general of the Bureau of International Law, deputy director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau, Ambassador in charge of the United Nations and Human Rights, deputy director-general of European affairs in charge of Russia and Eastern Europe. He served abroad as deputy chief of mission in Seoul; minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.; and minister of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. 

He was decorated by the president of Republic of France with Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur.

Patricia Maclachlan, PhD, who arrived at UT in 1997, is Professor of Government and Asian Studies and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Professor of Japanese Studies. She received her Ph.D in political science and Japan studies in 1996 from Columbia University and spent one year as a research associate in the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Her research and teaching interests include comparative political institutions and the politics and political economy of East Asia, with a focus on Japan.

We will learn more about security issues facing Japan and the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan.

This will be an opportunity for those in our community who are not familiar with geopolitical security issues, especially those concerning Indo-Pacific and the Asia Pacific, to learn and become better informed about those issues.

This event will be conducted virtually and sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and NAJAS.  

Open to the public and free event   >>> Please Register!.

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