The EU, Japan and a fraying international order

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EU Foreign Policy Differentiation and Integration

Informal Groups in EU Approach to Conflicts and Crises EU Foreign Policy Differentiation and Integration (EUDIC) addresses the occurrence of informal groups of EU Member States in EU foreign policy post-Lisbon. Thanks to the...

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22-23 March 2021

This workshop at the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre, where an EU-Asia Programme has been inaugurated in January 2021, explored the EU and Japan’s international relations in an age of great power competition, especially their position amidst US-China rivalry and the engagement with economic statecraft and strategic communications. The workshop and the EU-Asia Project positions the EUI as a European hub for research on contemporary Asian politics and economics. The event – focused on EU-Asia geo-economics and (dis)information challenges – included relevant Europe & Asia experts from our network, and members of the EUI academic community.

PROGRAMME

Video Recording

In the programme below you will find a video recording linked to the title of each session.

22 March

9:00 – 9:30 | Introductory morning session: on the EU, NATO, and the Indo-Pacific

Welcome Address and Keynote Speakers
Prof. Brigid Laffan | Director of the Robert Schuman Centre, EUI
Dr. Enrico Letta | Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po in Paris
and former Prime Minister of Italy
Mr. Toshimitsu Motegi | Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan
Mr. Kazuyoshi Umemoto | President of the Japan Foundation

9.45 – 11.30 | Introductory morning session: Europe Faces Asia; Asia Faces Europe

Chair: Prof. Ken Endo | Hokkaido University and EUI
Dr. Nathalie Tocci | Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali
MEP Reinhard Bütikofer | European Parliament
Prof. Shinichi Kitaoka | President, Japan International Cooperation Agency
Dr. Anna Costa | Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

12:00 – 13:30 | Panel 1 – Setting the Political and Values-Based Landscape: The Prospects of EU-Japan, Transatlantic and Trilateral Coordination towards Asia

Chair: Dr. Giulio Pugliese | University of Oxford and EUI
Dr. Gudrun Wacker | Asia Senior Fellow, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik
Dr. Andrew Small | Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund
Prof. Michito Tsuruoka | Keio University
Discussant: Dr. Eva Pejsova | Senior Japan Fellow, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

13:45 – 15:15 | Panel 2 – Setting the Strategic Landscape: Taiwan, Europe, and Japan amidst US-China Strategic Competition

Chair: Prof. Ken Endo | Hokkaido University and EUI
Dr. Mathieu Duchâtel | Director of the Asia Program at Institut Montaigne
Prof. Luis Simón | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Mr. Hiroyuki Akita | Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei)
Discussant: Ms. Céline Pajon | Senior Research Fellow, Head of Japan Research, Center for Asian Studies, French Institute of International Relations; and Senior Fellow, Japan Program, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

23 March

8:30 – 10:00 | Panel 3 – NATO, the EU, East Asia and Disinformation

10:15 – 11:45 | Panel 4 – The Promise and Pitfalls of Connectivity: FOIP, BRI and EU-Asia Connectivity Initiatives

Chair: Prof. Bernard Hoekman | Director, Global Economics, EUI
Prof. Marie Söderberg | European Institute of Japanese Studies and Chairperson of the European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN)
Prof. Shino Watanabe | Sophia University
Dr. Akiko Fukushima | Senior Fellow, The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
Discussant: Dr. Maaike Okano-Heijmans | Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Institute

12.00 – 13.30 | Panel 5 – Between Openness, Securitisation and Protectionism: EU-Asia Trade and Trade Practices

Chair: Prof. Kazuto Suzuki | Tokyo University
Prof. Douglas Nelson | Tulane University
Prof. Bernard Hoekman | European University Institute
Mr. Hosuk Lee-Makiyama | Director of the European Centre for International Political Economy
Prof. Michael Plummer | Director, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe, and Eni Professor of International Economics
Discussant: Prof. Stephanie Rickard | London School of Economics

13:45 – 15:15 | Panel 6 – Between Openness, Securitisation and Protectionism: Politics and Economic Security in Europe and Japan

Chair: Dr. Giulio Pugliese | Oxford University and EUI
Ms. Francesca Ghiretti | Research Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali
Dr. Hugo Meijer | CNRS Research Fellow at Sciences Po, Center for International Studies (CERI)
Prof. Akira Igata | Executive Director, Center for Rule-making Strategy (CRS), Tama University
Discussant: Dr. Liselotte Odgaard | Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute