In the spring semester of 2009, we will launch an East Asia regional security working group under the purview of the Center for International Studies. Using the Political Science Department's and Security Studies Program's strengths in this area, our goal is to create a regular forum for discussion of ongoing security developments in this dynamic region. The group will complement the existing CIS Middle East regional security working group.
The group will focus on China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Southeast Asia, and will also consider the roles of the United States, Russia, and India as security actors in the region.
Our plan is to meet at approximately once a month, including but not limited to work in progress talks by MIT students or faculty, presentations by academic visitors from outside of the Institute, and conversations with current and former officials and expert observers.
We aim to invite well known, high-caliber thinkers on these issues so as to stimulate discussion.
Meeting times: 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the 2nd floor conference room of E38. Please contact David Weinberg and Tobias Harris for more information and to RSVP.
February 9th: Prof. Robert Art, Brandeis University
"The United States and the Rise of China: Implications for the Long Haul"
February 26th: Noriyuki Shikata, Director of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Second North American Affairs Division
"The current U.S.-Japan economic relationship and its prospects under the Obama Administration"