Asia Centre

The results of the research conducted by Asia Centre are published and distributed to its members and partners.

• E-bulletins, China Analysis – Les Nouvelles de Chine and Japan Analysis – La Lettre du Japon, collectively written based on the local press providing unique access to current affairs and opinions from the region;

• An Asian Outlook in association with the Documentation Française publishing house analysing political, economic and social events from a middle and long term perspective and offering a wider view of the Asia Pacific;

• Notes and Event Summaries: In depth thematic studies followed by an expert debate, and reported concisely.

CLOSE UP ON THE NEWS 1. Japan-China relations warmer still 2. The government manages to push through the Diet a series of tax laws 3. A limited reform of the civil service POINTS OF NEWS l Hatoyama Yûkio, « Behind the scenes of the Heads of BoJ nomination », Chûôkôron, may 2008, p. 50-60 (interview). l Yamauchi Masayuki, « Japanese diplomacy and the rising interest in Midde-East studies », Chûôkôron, may 2008, p. 86-101 l Kajimura Taichirô, « For a real and fair historical awareness », Sekai, june 2008, p. 258-272 l Ishiyama Hisao, Hozumi Takeshi, Tawara Yoshifumi, « Historical issues and courts », Sekai, june 2008, p. 274-284 l Yosano Kaoru, Maehara Seiji, « Are the LDP and the Democratic party very different? », interview of Tahara Sôichirô, Chûôkôron, july 2008, p. 34-43.

Information – registration: japananalysis@centreasia.org

The rise of an energy-hungry China is influencing economies, decision-makers, and industrial policies worldwide. Within China, important debates are taking place on the institutions governing energy, on, pricing reforms and the issue of market liberalization. Abroad, questions are raised about the implications of China’s fast-growing energy demand, its quest for resources and its policies addressing environmental degradation. Understanding the actors that shape China’s energy sector and their diverse perceptions is now essential. It is also needed by those who interact with the Chinese administration, companies and market, or who seek to influence China’s global energy footprint.

This book provides the first comprehensive view of the factors that constitute China’s energy security. It sheds light on the importance of diverging domestic interests, lobbies and interest groups as well as bureaucratic interactions in China’s energy policy-making. It also assesses the country’s international energy strategy through this prism. The dynamics of China’s energy choices are essentially domestic. But their impact - rational or psychological - is now global.

This volume is the outcome of a research project conducted by Asia Centre - Centre études Asie in Beijing between September 2006 and December 2007. Five workshops and roundtables brought together leading Chinese and Western experts from the fields of energy economics, law, political science as well as industrial and foreign policy actors.

Information: contact@centreasia.org

To order

Asia Centre has succeeded in providing a forum for presentations and discussions, with the cooperation of a great numbers of French and non-French institutions involving some fifty researchers, analysts and professionals of the Asia-Pacific, dealing with such major issues and questions as: the return of national strategies and economic globalization, the prevention of conflict and regional integration policies, and the challenges of democracy and governance concerning the whole region and its international partners. The major transversal and sectoral concerns – the quest for energy, nuclear proliferation and its crises, financial markets and systems, as well as changes to political and social systems, also lie at the core of our research and public debates. […]

This report offers an outline of our activities for the period 2005-2007, in line with the new architecture of Asia and the major questions raised by ongoing events around us, and sometimes, we hope, ahead of those events. […]

Director of Asia Centre and Professor, Sciences Po, Paris

Download Asia Centre’s activities report

Le Figaro – Opinions, 22 Sept. 2006

The coup d’état that shook Thailand is yet another phase in the political crisis that has destabilised the country for several years. Comfortably re-elected in 2005, but not without their being protest against the result, Thaksin Shinawatra, the powerful telecommunications magnate turned politician in the late 1990s then Prime Minister in 2001, applied the same rule in politics as in business: the rule of the strongest. How was the Thai army able to mount a coup d’état in a country that appeared converted to democracy and to the parliamentary process? Beginning with this, S. Boisseau du Rocher interpreted the polemic about this crisis in the press.