“Asian regionalism and U.S. Asian policy : international relations in the Asia-Pacific during the Vietnam War” (Tkyo University Shuppankai, 2009)

Jo Yanghyeon (Assistant Professor, Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea)

It is a great privilege to be awarded this honorable Prize. I deeply appreciate the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation and the judges of the award that my humble work Asian regionalism and U.S. Asian policy was selected for this academic award commemorating late Masayoshi Ohira, who had contributed so much to Asian Regionalism with advocacy for ‘Pacific Basin Community Concept’.
Recent initiative of ‘East Asia Community’ shows that Asian countries are actively promoting community building in the region. Against this backdrop, my studies positively analyzed the movement to establish regional organizations in mid-1960`s, when it marked the early stage of Asian Regionalism, focusing on the relation to the U. S. diplomacy. In the past, 1960’s was acknowledged with the image of ‘War’, particularly the Vietnam War. However, I chose the themes of ‘Development’ and ‘Regionalism’, understanding the diversity of international relations in Asia-Pacific Region as complication from U.S. Asian Policy and autonomic interactions among Asian countries. I think this approach for regional international relations could be effective in analyzing international relations in the Post-Cold War era. So I hope that historic experience my humble writing suggests would provide an intellectual tool for further discussions on the future of Asian Regionalism.

I express my sincere gratitude to my old teachers and colleagues in Seoul National University and Tokyo University. My thesis adviser, Professor Susumu Yamakage consistently supported and encouraged me not only with writing and publishing the doctoral dissertation but also with the overall academic career. Also, I want to thank Jechul Scholarship Committee of POSCO, Setsutaro Kobayashi Memorial Fund of Fuji Xerox, and University of Tokyo Press for their financial support.

Profile
He is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea since 2006. He obtained BA at Seoul National University, MA and Ph.D. at Tokyo University. His Ph.D. dissertation has been published as Asian Regionalism and U.S. Asian Policy: International Relations in the Asia-Pacific during the Vietnam War in 2009. His area of specialization is Japanese foreign policy, Korea-Japan relations and international relations of Asia and Pacific