Japan and Asia in the pandemic era: RCEP

In November, 2020, 15 countries comprising all of ASEAN plus Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand decided to meet the economic challenge of the pandemic by signing the world’s largest regional trade agreement. What does the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership mean for Canada, for the new Biden Administration, and for leadership in Asia? The Centre for the Study of Global Japan partnered with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and UBC’s Centre for Japan Research to talk with international experts on the implications of RCEP.

Speaker bios:

Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on expanding ASPI’s presence in Washington and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade and investment, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), including serving as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. In that capacity, she worked on a range of U.S. trade negotiations and initiatives in Asia.

Shihoko Goto is the Deputy Director for Geoeconomics and the Senior Northeast Asia Associate at the Wilson Center’s Asia Program. She is a leading expert on economics and politics in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, as well as U.S. policy in the region. A seasoned journalist and analyst, she spent ten years reporting from Tokyo and Washington for Dow Jones and UPI on the global economy, international trade, and Asian markets and politics. A contributing editor to The Globalist, Goto previously worked for the World Bank and has been awarded fellowships from the East-West Center and the Knight Foundation, among others.

Professor Michael Plummer is Director of SAIS Europe since 2014 and the Eni Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, as well as a non-resident senior fellow at the East-West Center. He was Head of the Development Division of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2010-2012), a professor at Brandeis University (1992-2001) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Asian Economics (2007-2015). He was president of the American Committee on Asian Economic Studies (ACAES) from 2008 until 2015. A former Fulbright Chair in Economics and Pew Fellow in International Affairs at Harvard University, he has been an Asian Development Bank distinguished lecturer on several occasions and team leader of projects for various organizations including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United Nations, the ADB, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. He has consulted many governments in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe on issues related to economic cooperation and is co-author/editor of over two-dozen books, and author of over 100 journal articles and book chapters.

Dr. Jeffrey Reeves is Vice-President of Research for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Prior to joining APF Canada, Dr. Reeves was the Director of Asian Studies at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Dr. Reeves has over 15 years direct experience living and working in Asia, including as an Associate Professor with the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in the United States, as a Research Fellow with Griffith University in Australia, and as a University Instructor at Peking University in the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Reeves has worked with the United Nations Development Program and World Wildlife Foundation in Beijing and as a Research Assistant with the London School of Economics and Political Science’s (LSE) Asia Research Centre in London. Dr. Reeves served in the United States Peace Corps from 2001 to 2003 in Khovd, Mongolia.

Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University, 2002; Harvard Academy Scholar 2006; Fulbright Scholar 1996) is a Professor of Political Science, Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research, and Co-Director of the Center for Japanese Research. Yves is also Distinguished Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada. His current research focuses on the ongoing transition in the global economic and environmental order. Latest book: Geopolitics in East Asia: Response to COVID-19.

As part of her Canadian foreign service career, Deanna Horton spent a total of twelve years in Japan, including as Deputy Head of Mission, and also served as Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. She was a NAFTA negotiator and then spent seven years in Washington, most recently as Minister (Congressional, Public and Intergovernmental Affairs). As a Munk School Senior Fellow she has led a digital mapping project on Canada’s footprint in Asia https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/canasiafootprint/ and related research on technology multinationals.

Ms. Horton is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and a Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellow and she writes on economic and trade policy issues with a focus on Asia. She received a Diploma in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Bologna Center, a M.A. (International Affairs) from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and a B.A. (Hons) from McGill University. She also spent two years studying Japanese at the U.S. State Department Foreign Service Institute in Yokohama, Japan.

Sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Global Japan, Centre for Japanese Research, the University of British Columbia, and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.