What are the prospects of a new East Asian order emerging?

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

MEDIA ADVISORY

Katharine Shilcutt
713-348-6760
kshilcutt@rice.edu

What are the prospects of a new East Asian order emerging?
Distinguished scholar Gavan McCormack to speak at Rice U. March 19

HOUSTON – (March 6, 2019) – Despite the passage of nearly 70 years, the post-World War II sentiment embedded in the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, which ended the American-led occupation of Japan and that nation’s time as an imperial power, remains intact.

Shaken by the decline of Japan, the rise of China, moves on the Korean peninsula toward reconciliation and peace and the unpredictable positioning of the United States under President Donald Trump, what are the prospects of a new East Asian order emerging? One that is not only post-San Francisco but post-Cold War and even post-Western regional hegemony?

Award-winning researcher and scholar Gavan McCormack will address these questions and others in a March 19 talk, “Contesting Pasts, Presents, Futures: East Asia’s ‘Japan Problem’ and ‘Korea Problem.’” His lecture, the latest in the Liu Distinguished Visitor Series, takes place at 4 p.m. in the Kyle Morrow Room inside Fondren Library, 6100 Main St. It is free and open to the public.

An emeritus professor at Australian National University and a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, McCormack also serves as editor of The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. His works on Korea include “Cold War, Hot War: An Australian Perspective on the Korean War” and “Target North Korea: Pushing North Korea to the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe.”

McCormack’s most recent books include “Resident Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States,” co-authored with Satoko Oka Norimatsu; “Japan at a Turning Point — Pax Americana? Pax Asia?” co-authored with John Dower; and “The State of the Japanese State: Contested Identity, Direction and Role.”

Supported by a gift from Frank ’78 and Cindy Liu, the Liu Distinguished Visitor Series brings speakers to campus to discuss topics of broad humanistic interest.

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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Related information:

Liu Distinguished Visitor Series: chaocenter.rice.edu/programs/Liu%20Series

Rice University Chao Center for Asian Studies: chaocenter.rice.edu

Gavan McCormack (Photo by Kazutoshi Murata)

Photo link: https://rice.lwcal.com/live/image/gid/62/width/250/2165_MCCORMACK_Gavan_headshot.jpg

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