The 17th East Asian Seminar on the United Nations System

Towards East Asian LeadershipinStrengthening Multilateralism in an Increasingly Turbulent
WorldKitakyushu International Conference Center

November 10-12, 2017

Co-hosted by
Japan Association for United Nations Studies (JAUNS)
China Academic Net for United Nations Studies (CANUNS)
Korea Academic Council on the United Nations System (KACUNS)In collaboration withAcademic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS)
With the financial contributions ofthe Tokyo Club and City of Kitakyushu

Friday, 1０ November
Annotations
A systemic change of the order of once in a century is taking place in the world community, bringingabout a highly unstable international society. An important factor for this transformation is therevival of the Asian countries in the world, led by East Asia. One major powerful source of stabilityand orderly change that has been developed in the course of these one hundred years is
multilateralism whose content has evolved over time.
It is, therefore, the responsibility of the East Asian countries to take a leadership in the worldcommunity to strengthen multilateralism at the time of increasing turbulence. The focus of thetrilateral seminar of China, Korea and Japan on the United Nations System in 2017 is to discuss
ways and approaches for these three countries to take a leadership in strengthening multilateralism.
For this purpose, three broad issue-areas have been chosen : peace and security ; planetary
boundaries; and fortifying fragility in the world economy.

17:30-18:30: Opening Session

Key note speech: Mr. Akashi, Yasushi

President of JAUNS
Leader of the Korean Team
Leader of the Chinese Team

18:45-20:30: Reception
Mr. Matsuo, Takashi, President, The University of Kitakyushu

Saturday, 11 NovemberI.

Peace and Security

The current precarious situation in the world has been called in a number of different ways. PopeFrancis referred to it as the diffused world war in the week following the terrorist attacks of Paris on
November 13, 2015. While we are not in the full scale world war, prevention of escalation into it is
the most urgent task for the United Nations as the Secretary General Guterrez emphasized uponassuming the office at the beginning of January this year. Among the most salient challenges topeace and security in the recent global situation are international terrorism and regional tensions
and conflicts in various parts of the world including East Asia.
New approaches and conventional methods may have to be examined closely in this context.
Emergence of populism, political or religious extremism, lone wolves, new arms race, nuclear
proliferation (potentially even to terrorist groups) and cyber interventions may have to be counteredessentially by relatively soft means such as expansion of the middle class, emphasis on dialogue,
appeal to reason, fostering the culture of peace and cultivating an inclusive society, in relation toboth international terrorism and regional tensions. Strengthening the UN for credible interventionsin international terrorism and alleviating regional tensions may be supported byinternational legal systems.

1. Containing international terrorism

9:00-10:30

effective

Historically terrorism has taken a number of different forms. The current characteristics ofinternational terrorism are the prevalence of largely an indiscriminate killing with a view togenerating fears and distrust of the authorities on the part of the populations at large andoccasionally the subsequent formation of the political system that is contrary to the values whichhave been the basis of the society. In this situation, a resort to military means has only limited
effects. Efforts to construct an inclusive community and to foster a culture of peace in addition tostrengthening the legal system may provide a sustainable basis against international terrorism.
While the UN has been labeled as a totally incompetent body for peace and security at the time wheninternational terrorism is the biggest challenge for peace and security, it in fact may be the mostpowerful organization to fight against international terrorism in the long term. To realize thispotential, what are the concrete extra-measures that need to be taken ? What can we do jointly tostrengthen UN’s capacity in these areas ? These are the questions that will be addressed in thissession.
Moderator : Korea：Prof. Hyun, In-taek
Presentation 1. China：Ambassador Wang, Xuexian
2. Korea：Prof. Choi, Hyun Jin
3. Japan: Prof.Kihar-Hunt. Ai
Comments

1. Japan: Mr.Inomata,Tadanori
2. Korea：Prof. Byun, Jin-suk
3. China：Mr Huang He

2. Alleviating regional tensions and conflicts 10:45-12:15
With the exit of the United States as the dominant supporting power of the liberal international
order where the United Nations has played a key role for the past over 70 years, power politics has
recently become an even more dominant feature in the world than in the past. Subsequent
aggravations of regional conflicts and tensions are becoming ominous characteristics in various partsof the world. It is essential for the United Nations to play important roles to alleviate regional
tensions and conflicts at this time simply because there is no other alternative in the world.
While the Middle East, the eastern part of Europe and the Indian sub-continent have grave conflicts,
East Asia is considered as one of the flash points in the world. Japan, China and Korea are obliged tosquarely face with this reality even in the context of the United Nations.
While all the political systems are victims of history, at the same time, history has also preparedsome basis for potential solutions to contemporary problems. In East Asia, cultural and social
interactions over a long period of time have nurtured some common grounds while mutual
differences are also obvious. In the global context of the United Nations, the commonality among usclearly exists. Can we develop new approaches to each other by using a highly diverse setting of theUnited Nations ? Is it possible to cultivate a culture of cooperation among us for the purpose ofenhancing the United Nations so that East Asian culture can be reflected in its discussions andoperations more clearly than in the current situation ? In this spirit, can we also consider ways tostrengthen existing mechanisms such as the East Asian Summit including the trilateral secretariatin Seoul and even the ASEAN Regional Forum with a stronger support of it from the three countries?
These are the issues and questions that will be addressed in this session.

Moderator : China：Ambassador Wang Xuexian
Presentation 1. Korea：Dr. Chung, Kuyoun
2. China：Mr Huang He
3. Japan: Mr. Hirose,Satoshi
Comments

1.Korea：Prof. Choi, Hyun Jin
2. China: Ambassador Wang, Xuexian
3. Japan: Mr. Higashi,Daisaku

II.

Planetary Boundaries (Public Session)

With ever widening disparity in a number of issue-areas and advancing global warming, thehumanity must urgently attend to issues and try to solve problems carried over from the 20thcentury, as represented in SDGs and the Paris Accord of 2015 and ensure sustainable development inthe 21st century. With the world community having entered into the period of implementing theseagreements of soft and hard laws respectively, the UN system is the only and best mechanism incoordinating and achieving such complex and global goals and targets. This session will take stock ofwhere each of the East Asian countries is in relation to these two agreements and to discuss how totake a stronger leadership jointly or separately in achieving globally agreed goals and actions.

3. Implementing SDGs : Taking stock of the current situations of each country andconsider joint actions if possible.
13:30-15:00
The world community is slow in implementing the wide-ranging agreement of SDGs as evidenced byrecent UN meetings. In implementing SDGs, East Asia can take a lead by showing good progress on
many fronts and providing support to other regions. The session will review our implementing
situations and identify areas where East Asia can take a lead and discuss how the region cancontribute to accelerating progress in other regions. Paper presenters are encouraged to propose
concrete measures.

Moderator: Japan: Mr.Kunugi, Tatsuro
Presentation 1. Korea：Prof. Song, Young Hoon
2. Japan：Mr.Kuyama, Sumihiro
3. China：Mr Zhou Taidong,Comments

1. Korea：Prof. Hong, Kyu-dok

2. Japan: Mr.Inomata,Tadanori
3. China：Ms Sun Jingying,

4. Implementing the Paris Accord : Taking stock of the current situations of eachcountry and consider joint actions ,if possible 15:15-16:45
The essence of the Paris Accord is to transform voluntary commitments into obligations, including
accepting progressively ambitious targets. In implementing the Accord, East Asia continues to have
major challenges and mixed experiences in reducing greenhouse gases and in adapting to theimpacts of climate change. These challenges are even greater now than at the time of the adoption of
the agreement at the end of 2015 due to the adverse political climate which prevails in the worldcommunity now. Having entered into force on November 4, 2016, the Accord requires signatories toprepare themselves well before 2020. The session will focus on how each country is progressing on
implementation of the Accord and on how, in this adverse global political environment, East Asia canwork together and contribute to accelerating global actions on climate change mitigation andadaptation including joint actions

Moderator: China：Mr Zhou Taidong
Presentation 1. China：Ms Jin Xi
2. Japan:Mr.Hase, Toshio
3. Korea：Prof.Choi,Yong Soo

Prof.Yoo, Seung Jick
Comments 1. Japan: Mr.Watanabe, Tomoaki
2. Korea：Prof. Park, Heung Soon
3. China：Ms Tian Huifang,

III Attacking fragility in the world economy
Wars and violent conflicts have basically triple causes that are structurally inter-linked with eachother ; root causes, aggravating factors and triggers. In the rapidly evolving global socio-economic
situation, one major aggravating factor which is currently at the center of the highly precarious
balance in the world community, is rampant protectionism which is bringing about political tensions
in various forms. While there are a number of root causes which need to be carefully tended, thewidening gap between the rich and the poor in the world community has recently become apolitically dangerous proportion. In this session, protectionism and poverty will be highlighted.

5. Rolling back protectionism 17:00－18:30
The discussion that followed the presentations reached a broad common understanding on one point,
namely that in a globalizing world, stable trade and investment are a basic foundation for increased
prosperity. It was pointed out that Asian economies will suffer more than others from increasingprotectionism and the Chinese economy would suffer most in the world of protectionism. It was alsosuggested that the security issue of North Korea would pose the major threat to trade andinvestment in East Asia. The discussion session then focused its attention on measures to avoid
increase in protectionism which had been recognized as rampant. While the WTO had lost its
effectiveness, it could, with the support of all of us, be helpful in avoiding the world trading systemfrom transitioning from a rule-based system into a purely power-based one. It has been suggested
that the starting point could be to make G20, whose trade occupies some 77 per cent of the world
trade, a more effective body concerning the trade issues, even for the purpose of making effective useof the WTO, and also for building a more effective world trade architecture,
Moderator : Japan:Mr.Hasegawa, Sukehiro
Presentation 1. China：Ms Tian Huifang,
2. Korea：Prof. Byun, Jin-suk
3. Japan: Mr.Watanabe, Tomoaki
Comments

1. Korea：Prof. Song, Young Hoon
2. China：Ms Sun Jingying
3. Japan：Mr. Takahashi, Kazuo

Sunday, 12 November
6. Redoubling efforts to fight against poverty

9:00－10:30

Oxfam reported at the Davos meeting of January 2017 that “the richest 8 men own the same as halfof humanity “, in its “ An economy for the 99 percent “. Shocked by this input into the annual event ofbusiness leaders and some political figures, the business community has strongly been sensitized forthe first time by the dangers of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the world, whereas
this issue has constantly been the top priority concern in the development community for well overquarter of a century.
The globalizing economy has brought about deteriorating Gini indices in an increasing number ofcountries in the course of this century, including all the countries of East Asia. Gini index being themajor precursor of the volume of aid of a donor country, government’s roles in alleviating poverty arebound to be reduced at the time when the need for aid in the alleviation of poverty is increasing andthe consciousness of the establishment to tackle the issues of the widening gap between the rich andthe poor is deepened.
It is obvious that we must redouble our long standing efforts to fight against poverty. How do wetackle this dilemma ? Does the bottom of pyramid approach through market operations do thetrick ? What are its track records ? If the major response has to come from the public-private
partnership, can we identify some major success cases ? Are there new roles for the UN system
including UNDP and other programmes as well as specialized agencies in this context ?

Moderator : Korea：Prof. Hong, Kyu-dok
Presentation 1. Japan：Mr.Kiya, Masahiko
2. Korea：Prof. Park, Heung Soon
3. China：Ms Sun Jingying
Comments 1. Korea：Dr. Chung, Kuyoun
2. China：Mr Zhou Taidong,
3.Japan: Mr.Ohira,Tsuyoshi,
IV ACUNS Session 10:45－11:45
1.Enhancing the participation of East Asian scholars and practitioners in the ACUNS Annual
Meeting and other meetings
2.Possibility of holding an ACUNS Annual Meeting in China or Japan
3.Role of ACUNS Tokyo Liaison OfficeThis session was held for the purpose of enhancing information sharing between the ACUNS
leadership and the participants.
The current ACUNS Executive Director, Prof. Alistar Edgar, informed that his current mainconcern was to oversee the leadership transfer in the period up to July 2018 to take place in assmooth a manner as possible. He then introduced the executive director-designate, Prof. Math
Noortmann of the Research Center of Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, andinformed that a new editorial board of Global Governance would begin to work from January 2018
headed by Mr. Ken Stiles, professor of political science at Brigham Young University (where thejournal office would be located) and Ms. Alina Lyon, associate professor of political science at theUniversity of New Hampshire, and that the next annual meeting will be held in Rome from July
12-14 ,2018.
The Executive Director-designate informed that he would introduce some measures in theworks of ACUNS, including 1) an increasing number of annual meetings to take place outside ofEurope or North America (planning a 2019 meeting in South Africa, and hoping a 2021 meeting totake place in China) and 2) establishment of standing groups to be integral components of annualmeetings.
The director of the Tokyo liaison office, Prof. Sukehiro Hasegawa, reported the activities of thepast six months; and, Prof. Ai Kihara-Hunt introduced upcoming meetings to take place in December
2017 and in April 2018. Concerning the role of the Tokyo Liaison Office, it was noted that this new
office would cover the East Asian countries including China and Korea in addition to Japan forenhanced liaison functions between ACUNS headquarters and East-Asia, until any additional
liaison office is established in the region.
Prof. Mariko Shoji explained the experiences of organizing sessions where Japaneseparticipants played active parts in annual meetings. Some exchange of views has ensued, leading toa widely held observation that this session has enhanced the transparency of the works of theexecutive director’s office of ACUNS and helped clarifying the functions of the new liaison office ofTokyo.
V Concluding Session 11:45－12:45
1. General Concluding Remarks : Director for Academic Exchange and Cooperation,
JAUNS Mr.Takahashi, Kazuo
2. Concluding Speeches
President of JAUNS
Leader of the Korean Team
Leader of the Chinese Team

Suggestions for participants
1. The major role of the moderators is to organize the assigned time ( 90 minutes )in as productive amanner as possible with the involvement of all the participants at the seminar. By minimizing thetime of introducing the subject, and by keeping the time of presentation of a paper to10 minutes andof a comment to 5 minutes, maximize the time available for the plenary to discuss the relevant issues
as much as possible. Participation of all the participants in the seminar is the top priority concern.
At the end of the discussion of each session, the moderator is expected to present a set of conclusionsof the session.
2. A paper to be presented ( a conference paper, not a full fledged academic article ) should be concise.
The length should not exceed 5 pages (A４ with a font of 10.5). Emphasis should be placed on
conclusions.
The oral presentation should not exceed 10 minutes. The major objective of a paper is to provide agood basis for discussion by the whole participants.
3. Comments should be addressed to any or all of the paper presentations in the session. Their role is
not to present short papers. The major objective of a comment is to provide a useful bridge between
the papers and the plenary. Time is strictly limited to 5 minutes.

4. Importance of the participation of as many seminar participants as possible is highlighted. For
this objective, remarks and questions from the floor should be limited to 2 minutes for one
participant and it is essential for the whole participants to follow the lead of the moderator.

Excursion
Date: November 10th
Destination: Kyushu National Museum& Kyushu National Museum

Secretariat
Mr.Takahashi Kazuo
Mr.Kukita,JunMs.Mashima,Asako
Ms.Shoji,Mariko
Mr.Ohira,Tsuyoshi＜student volunteers＞
Ms. Hatanaka, Maria
Ms. Izawa, Maaya
Ms. Kubota, Yuriko
Mr. Okazaki, Daichi
Ms. Sakamoto, Yuki
Ms. Tada, Marika
Ms. Takahashi, Erina
Ms. Tatemoto, Kokoro