【Yi-feng Lu, Tamsui Campus Report】On Dec.18 the Graduate Institute of Asian Studies(GIAS) held the Japan and Association of Southeastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) International Security Conference. The Director of GIAS, Hsi-hsun Tsai, joined together with 20 educators to discuss the future of international security and relations of Japan with the ASEAN, attracting an audience of 50 teachers and students.

Vice President of International Studies, Wan-chin Tai, expressed, “Due to the importance of the issues that occur in the South China Sea and the effect it has on relations of all the countries in Asia, and also that Tamkang University possesses professional research data regarding Japan and Southeastern Asia, I believe we will be able to do a significant and effective analysis on the current situation.”

Dean of the College of International Studies, Kao-cheng Wang, expressed, “I anticipate that after this conference, we will have a much deeper understanding of the issue.” Secretary of Taipei Office’s Interchange Association (Japan), Hamada Takeshi, expressed, “My hope is that the research of TKU on Japan, the great personnel that has been cultivated from the university, and the newly established Graduate Institute of Japanese Political Finance will be able to give us good insight on what steps to take for the promotion of healthy Taiwan/Japan relations.”

After they discussed different political and financial strategies, researcher of the National University of Singapore, Malcolm Cook gave a lecture titled, “Japan-ASEAN Relations Going Forward Perspective, Platform and Pitfall.” There was a total of 13 related articles distributed during the conference.