One of our main activities is organising and hosting Luncheon Briefings on pertinent topics of EU-Asia relations. Beginning with an informal lunch, the Briefings usually last for 1.5 hours, including questions.

Attendees include EIAS members and other interested parties.

Experts wishing to discuss a possible topic for a Lucheon Briefing are invited to contact EIAS

Japan's New Diplomatic Horizon? "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity" and Implications for Japan-EU Security Relations
Wednesday, 23rd May, 2007 from 12h30 – 14h30, EIAS

Speaker: Professor Ken Jimbo, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University
Chair: Mr Dick Gupwell, Secretary General, European Institute for Asian Studies

The European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) in association with the Mission of Japan to the EU is honoured to welcome Ass’t Professor Ken Jimbo of Keio University (who is also a Senior Fellow at the Keio Research Institute and a Visiting Lecturer on East Asian Security at the National Defence Academy) to its premises for a discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing the Japan-EU relationship. The election of Shinzo Abe as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and subsequently as Prime Minister, in September 2006, altered the political and diplomatic landscape of Japan both regionally and internationally.

This new horizon offers possibilities to reshape the bilateral and regional relationships of Japan with key East Asian countries and to reassert Japan’s role internationally at a crucial time for the strengthening of the multilateral system.

What strategies will Japan follow in order to improve these relationships and overcome fears that Japan’s re-emergence, particularly as a security power, will upset the regional political and military balance? What are the implications for this new assertiveness in Japan’s diplomacy for the Japan-EU relationship and for Japan’s role as a Strategic Partner of the European Union?

Ass’t Professor Jimbo has previously been a Director of Research at the Japan Forum on International Relations and a Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. His research focusses upon Japanese Foreign and defence policy, multilateral security in the Asia-Pacific and on regionalism in East Asia. Dr Jimbo is the author of numerous papers and articles including in the Annual Review of Japan’s Defence Policy and on multilateral security in the Asia-Pacific.