Report of the Network of East Asian Think-Tanks (NEAT)
Working Group on Enhancement of Cultural Exchange in East Asia

7-9 June 2007Jeonju, Korea

Introduction
1.

The first meeting of the NEAT “Working Group on Enhancement of CulturalExchange” was held on June 8, 2007 in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province in theRepublic of Korea. It was sponsored by the Korean Institute of Southeast AsianStudies (KISEAS), the Country Coordinator of NEAT Korea. A total of 18
participants from all 13 ASEAN Plus Three (APT) countries attended themeeting and engaged in an interactive and productive discussion.

2.

We, the participants of this NEAT Working Group (WG) meeting, recognize theimportance of “cultural exchange” in the building of the East Asian Community(EAC). We also acknowledge that there has been a growing interest in thecultural exchange in East Asia recently, which is a desirable and positivedevelopment.

3.

We further acknowledge the commitment of the leaders of APT countries tobuilding the EAC, that has been expressed on various occasions as follows:
A. Joint Statement on East Asian Cooperation, issued in Manila in 1999,
which recognized the importance of enhancing people-to-people contacts
and promoting cultural understanding;
B. The Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II), issued in Bali,Indonesia, in 2003, which declared that “The Community [i.e., ASEAN
Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC)] shall nurture talent and promoteinteraction among ASEAN scholars, writers, artists and media practitioners
to help preserve and promote ASEAN’s diverse cultural heritage”; and1

C. Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the APT Summit signed in December 2005,
which declared that “We will enhance people-to-people exchange aimed atdeveloping a ‘we’ feeling,” that “We will encourage the sharing of ideas
through greater interaction between students, academicians, researchers,
artists, media, and youths among countries in East Asia,” and that “We willconduct regular exchange of intellectuals, members of think tanks, religious
personalities and scholars, which will benefit East Asia and the world
through deeper knowledge and understanding so as to fight intolerance andimprove understanding among cultures and civilisations.”
4.

We, however, express our apprehension that the efforts for EAC building haveso far been focused on the area of economic cooperation and that no serious
and systematic attempts to enhance cultural exchange have been made. In thisregard, we agree that there is a greater need for more practicable and specificaction programs and coordinated activities to enhance cultural exchange in thisregion.

5.

We affirm that this is the right moment for all APT countries in this region towork together to promote cultural exchange and to build a cultural communityin East Asia. We also express our hope that the WG meetings will provide us
with necessary fora to nurture our ideas and concretize our programs to this end.

Key Issues and Principles
6.

Recognizing that it is the first meeting of the WG, we agreed that our discussion
should include, but not limited to, more general and broader agendas such as
follows:
A. Problems in the current state of cultural exchange in East Asia and theelements detrimental to the enhancement of cultural exchange in the region;
B. General directions and some basic principles to be uphold in theenhancement of cultural exchange; andC. Minimal but necessary institutional arrangements for the enhancement of2cultural exchange.
7.

The WG also recognized that there are many different and diverse themes underthe broader topic of ‘cultural exchange’. It thus agreed that it would beappropriate in this first WG meeting to identify these specific themes to besubsumed under the larger topic of cultural exchange (which are to behenceforth called ‘sub-areas of cultural exchange’).

8.

The WG recognized that the following obstacles had been impeding cultural
exchange in the region:
A. Lack of an understanding and appreciation of the significance of culturaldiversity in the region and of the importance of cultural exchange inpromoting the EAC;
B. Lack of a political will, institutional arrangements, adequate funding, andcollaborative and concerted efforts of both public and private sectors toenhance cultural exchange; andC. Low priority given to the area of culture and to the cultural exchange.

9.

The WG emphasized that there should be a change in the attitude, not only of
the political leaders, public policy makers (in Track I) and serious practitioners(in Track II and III, including academicians, researchers, scholars, media men,intellectuals and other specialists) but also of the people in general, toward theimportance of cultural exchange. It also stressed that some appropriate andimmediate measures should be taken to remedy this situation and a long-term
projects and programs to deal with the issue of cultural exchange should also beconsidered.

10. The WG expressed its concern over the ‘unidirectional flow of culture’ in the
East Asian region and a ‘unilateral imposition’ of one culture over another.
A. Some of the participants of the WG meeting showed concern over thepossibility that cultural exchange in East Asia would follow a unilateralmode in which only the cultures of bigger and stronger nations are3

transmitted to smaller and weaker nations and the latter become a mere
receiver thereof.
B. Others, however, pointed out that the cultural exchange in this globalizing
world would rarely be a simple one-way process and that the cultural
exchange in this region would eventually become a more interactive andreciprocal one.
C. However, all the participants in the WG agreed that it would be advisable tomake further efforts to promote a more balanced and reciprocal cultural
exchange in the region.
11. The WG also acknowledged a need for a more participatory, people-oriented
cultural exchange with balanced roles of the state, market forces, and private
sectors.
A. The WG affirmed that cultural exchange in this region should not bedominated by the market forces nor governed by the government alone.
B. It acknowledged that people in every private sector should work in tandemwith the public sector to promote cultural exchange.
12. The WG affirmed that to enhance cultural exchange in this region it would benecessary to build an ‘institutional framework’ within the APT setting, which is
responsible for the following tasks:
A. Collecting and updating information/data on current activities, programs,and plans for cultural exchange in each country;
B. Sharing and disseminating these information/data among various agencies
and institutions (including government agencies, schools, research institutes,media, and business enterprises) in APT member countries; andC. Monitoring, promoting, and organizing regional cultural exchange andactivities related therewith.

4Sub-areas of Cultural Exchange Activities and the Modality of WG Meetings
13. The WG identified various sub-areas of cultural exchange activities, whichwere then grouped into the following categories:
A. Arts and literature, popular culture, and sports
B. Cultural festivities and cultural exhibition
C. Mass media, printing media, publication and translation
D. Education: (1) the development of new school curriculum on East Asiansocieties and cultures; (2) the promotion of extracurricular activities toenhance an understanding of other cultures in the region; and (3) theexchange of primary and secondary school students and teachersE. Academic exchange and research: (1) the promotion of academicexchange—the exchanges of college students as well as scholars andresearchers; (2) the establishment of an intercultural-international academic
society/organization for understanding East Asian people and culture; and(3) the promotion of the East Asian area studies
F. People-to-people exchange: including youth exchange, the utilization ofhome stay programs, exchange of religious groups, civil society groups,
literary personalities etc.
G. Tourism: the promotion of an East Asian identity and community throughtourism
14. The WG also chose the following five sub-areas as the ‘priority areas’, onwhich we should concentrate our efforts in the near future to enhance culturalexchange in the region.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

v.

Media
Popular culture and cultural festivities
Education
People-to-people exchange (including academic exchange, studentexchange, exchange of religious and civil-society groups, and exchangeof other non-state practitioners)
Performing arts and cultural exhibition

515. The WG agreed that each of the coming meetings of our WG (Working Groupon Enhancement of Cultural Exchange) in the next five years should deal withthe aforementioned issues (or priority areas of interests) in the following order:zzzzz

yr 2008 : Mediayr 2009: Popular culture and cultural festivities
yr 2010: Education
yr 2011: People-to-people exchange
yr 2012: Performing arts and cultural exhibition

16. The WG agreed that the main theme of discussions in the next WG meeting in2008 should be that of ‘media’ and the discussion will be focused on, but notlimited to, the following sub-topics thereof:zzzz

Mass media and broadcasting
Internet media
Printing media and publicationTranslation

17. Finally, the WG expressed its appreciation for Thai government’s program ofthe ‘Cultural City of East Asia’ scheduled in November 2007 and wished it ahuge success.

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ANNEX

Delegates to the Working Group on
Enhancement of Cultural Exchange in East Asia
(in alphabetical order by country)
7-9 June 2007
Jeonju, Korea
BruneiDr. Siti Norkhalbi Haji Wahsalfelah
Deputy Director, Academy of Brunei Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussaalam
Cambodia
Mr. Bong SOVATH
Deputy Director of Cultural Technology, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts
China
Prof. WANG YanDirector of Foreign Affairs Office and Associate Professor of English and InternationalStudies, China Foreign Affairs University
Indonesia
Ms. Dwi Ardhanariswari SUNDRIJO
Lecturer, Department of International Relations, University of Indonesia
JapanMr. MURAKAMI, Masayasu
Director of Research, Japan Forum on International Relations Inc.
Laos
Mr. Vayolinh PHRASAVATH
Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Culture
Malaysia
Dr. Asma AbdullahIntercultural Specialist, Brain Global Dynamics
MyanmarMr. Han SEIN
Deputy Director, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies
Philippines
Dr. Matthew SANTAMARIA
Associate Professor, Asian Center, University of Philippines
SingaporeDr. Terence CHONGFellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

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Thailand
Dr. Krisana Vaisamruat
Director, East Asian Studies Center, Ramkhamhaeng University
Vietnam
Ms. Nguyen Thi THIN
Lecturer, Foreign Language Faculty, Institute of International Relations
Korea
Prof. CHAE Suhong
Professor, Dept. of Archaeology & Cultural Anthropology, Chonbuk NationalUniversity
Prof. HWANG In-Won
Professor, Dept. of Politics, Gyeongsang National University
Dr LEE Jaehyon
Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Prof. PARK Sa-Myung
Professor, Dept. of Political Science and Diplomacy, Kangwon National University andChairman & CEO, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Prof. PARK Seung Woo
Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Yeungnam University
Prof. SHIM Doobo
Professor, School of Culture and Information, Sungshin Women’s University

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