Stellenbosch University's Department of Political Science & The Embassy of Japan in South Africa invites you to join:
A webinar on
Japan, Africa and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific
Date: Wednesday, 24 March 2021
Time: 10h00-11h30 (CAT)
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In this webinar, leading International Relations experts discuss the potentials and synergies that could be fostered through the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy and the prospects for collaboration in the Indian Ocean region. Japan has been central in schemes promoting quality infrastructure investment across the globe, including in Africa. States such as South Africa have played an important role in the Indian Ocean Rim Association, which works towards economic cooperation among member states.
Speakers discuss what opportunities exist in terms of the vision of the FOIP, how maritime economic cooperation and trade and investment could be enhanced, and how infrastructure development expansion could be achieved through cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.
10h00-10h05 Welcome and introduction
Prof. Scarlett Cornelissen, Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University
10h05-10h15 Opening remarks
Mr. Norio Maruyama, Ambassador of Japan to South Africa
10h15-10h45 'Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy'
Prof. Yuichi Hosoya, Keio University, Japan
10h45-11h10 Discussion
Dr. Veda Vaidyanathan, Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi, India
Dr. Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs
11h10-11h25 Q & A
11h25-11h30 Conclusion
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Norio Maruyama His
Excellency Mr Norio Maruyama is Ambassador of Japan to South Africa. Mr.
Maruyama entered the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983 after completing
studies at the University of Tokyo. During an illustrious diplomatic career he
served in missions in France, Cambodia (including as Ambassador) and the
European Union. He was Minister, and later Ambassador of the Japan Mission to
the European Union. Aside from these diplomatic postings, Mr. Maruyama also
served in various capacities in the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
including as director-general of the African Affairs department. Mr. Maruyama
has been Ambassador to South Africa since January 2019.’
Yuichi Hosoya is a professor of international politics at Keio University, Tokyo. He is also a Senior Researcher at Nakasone Yasuhiro Peace Institute (NPI), a Senior Fellow at The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research (TKFD), and also Adjunct Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). Professor Hosoya studied international politics at Rikkyo (BA), Birmingham (MIS), and Keio (Ph.D.). He was a visiting professor and Japan Chair (2009–2010) at Sciences-Po in Paris (Institut d'Études Politiques) and a visiting fellow (Fulbright Fellow, 2008–2009) at Princeton University. His research interests include postwar international history, British diplomatic history, Japanese foreign and security policy, and contemporary East Asian international politics. His comments appeared at
New York Times, Washington Post,
Financial Times, USA Today, Die Welt and
Le Monde, as well as at major Japanese media.
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Veda Vaidyanathan is a Visiting Associate Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. She completed her Ph.D. from the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai on the Resource Diplomacy Strategies of India and China in Africa. She was initially a doctoral fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and in 2014 received the Institute of Chinese Studies-Harvard Yenching Institute (ICS-HYI) China-India studies fellowship. From 2015-16 she was a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Peking University, China and was a visiting fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute in Harvard University the following year. Her paper titled "Reimagining Engagement and Realigning Priorities: How India and China are Informing the African Growth Story" won the World Society Foundation Award in Switzerland in April 2019. Veda has conducted extensive fieldwork interviewing various stakeholders in India, China, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, USA and the UK.
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Cobus van Staden is a senior researcher in the Foreign Policy Programme of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). His areas of expertise are China-Africa relations, wider Asia-Africa relations, and public diplomacy. Cobus completed his PhD in Japanese studies and media studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He expanded his work to comparisons between Japan and China during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch, and the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg, before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. His focus on China-Africa relations is further developed through the multi-platform China-Africa Project, which includes the China in Africa Podcast, the most prominent podcast dedicated to China-Africa relations, which is downloaded about 30,000 times per month.
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