HONOLULU (Nov. 7) – The East-West Center (EWC) is now accepting applications for two journalism travel-study fellowships—the Spring 2008 Jefferson Fellowships for Journalists and the 4th Korea-United States Journalists Exchange.

The Spring 2008 Jefferson Fellowships program will take place May 3-25, 2008, and is open to journalists from the United States, Asia, and the Pacific islands. The theme for this program is “Beyond the Boomtowns: Development Challenges in The Other China.” Fellows will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii; and Beijing, Chongqing and Chengdu, China. The China study tour will include overland travel through smaller cities and rural areas. Fellows will visit regions that reflect different stages of China’s economic and political development.

HONOLULU (Oct 29) - Baseball great Bobby Valentine, Beijing’s sports marketing master Bin Yuan, and dynamic football coach June Jones are among the speakers at the upcoming East-West Sports Summit held November 7 to 9 at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.  Don’t miss this historic event bringing together top leaders in the global sports industry.  For more information and to register for the conference, visit www.eastwestsportssummit.org .  For one-day registration options (ranging from $150-$200), contact Gary Yoshida, event coordinator, at 808-944-7196 or via Email: yoshidag@EastWestCenter.org

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HONOLULU (Oct.30) – Global leader and founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne will speak about his work in grassroots community development and peace-building at an East-West Center evening forum on Tuesday, November 6.

The program is from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., at the East-West Center’s Hawaii Imin International Conference Center (1777 East-West Road) on the Garden Level. The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Reserve a seat by calling 944-7111 or Email: ewcinfo@eastwestcenter.org .

The forum is sponsored by the East-West Center, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, Friends of the East-West Center, University of Hawai`i at Manoa — Dept. of Philosophy, and Milun (Association for the promotion of South Asian culture).

For more information, contact:
Karen Knudsen, Director
Office of External Affairs
Phone: Office: (808) 944-7195
Email: KnudsenK@EastWestCenter.org

October 19, 2007

WHO:    Davin Aoyagi and Maria Walczuk, Hawaii High School Students who analyzed the Khmer Rouge War Crimes Tribunal on a recent EWC program in Cambodia

DATE:     Sunday, October 21, 2007

TIME:     2:00 - 4:00 PM

HONOLULU (Oct 22) – The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on October 12 to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chaired by East-West Center Alumnus Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. This award, jointly shared with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, was “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

WHO:    Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D'Affairs in Burma
 
DATE:   Wednesday, October 10, 2007
 
TIME:    11:30 a.m.   News conference in the East-West Center Gallery, Burns Hall 1601 East-West Road

12:00 noon:   Public talk in EWC Burns Hall, room 3015, 1601 East-West Road

           
World attention has been riveted on Burma (Myanmar) in recent weeks as thousands of citizens led by monks peacefully marched through Rangoon and other cities throughout the country. The marches ended with a heavy-handed response from the government. Shari Villarosa, the leading United States diplomat in Burma, will give a public talk at the East-West Center on Wednesday, October 10 at 12:00 noon at the EWC Burns Hall, room 3015.

HONOLULU (October 10) – Leading authors, filmmakers, and scholars of Vietnamese Cinema will speak at an EWC evening forum on Wednesday, October 17. The program is from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m., with a reception until 6:00 p.m. followed by the discussion. The venue is the East-West Center’s Art Gallery in Burns Hall (1601 East-West Rd., Honolulu). The forum is open to the public at a cost of $15 per person ($10 for co-sponsor members). RSVP deadline is Monday, October 15. Parking is available on the UH Manoa Campus for a cost of $3. For more information or to make reservations please call (808) 944-7111 or email: ewcinfo@EastWestCenter.org.

HONOLULU (September 17) – Mary Townswick has taken up her new duties as visiting fellow and diplomat-in-residence at the East-West Center (EWC). Townswick, a 20-year veteran of the U.S Foreign Service, will serve in her new post until July 31, 2008. Townswick replaces Michael Yoder, also a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, as the EWC's diplomat-in-residence.

Mark your calendar for An International Affair, the East West Center's annual dinner, on Friday, February 29, 2008 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. The event will honor His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.  Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will represent His Majesty and receive the Asia Pacific Community Building Award in recognition of his dedicated work on behalf of the welfare of the people of Thailand.   

WHAT:   East-West Center Annual Dinner "An International Affair"

DINNER CHAIRS:  Jean Ariyoshi and Don K. Kim

DATE:  Friday, February 29, 2008

VENUE:  Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom

Honolulu (October 1) – The upcoming inaugural East-West Sports Summit hosted by the East-West Center (EWC) and Sports Marketing Japan on November 7-9 will feature China’s leading sports marketing guru, Bin Yuan.  She is the director of marketing for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and previously served as deputy director of international relations for the Olympic Games.

Yuan’s keynote address will provide a timely update on China’s progress with the Olympic preparations and marketing efforts.  So far they have secured more than 50 commercial sponsors, in addition to the 12 worldwide partners of the International Olympic Committee.

HONOLULU (October 4) –  The East-West Center’s (EWC) Asian International Justice Initiative Coordinator, Michelle Staggs, will speak about human rights challenges at U.N./local government partnered courts in Sierra Leone and Cambodia at an EWC evening forum on Wednesday, October 10. She will address the issue of inter-generational accountability 30 years after the Khmer Rouge period, as Cambodia prepares to confront the darkest part of its recent history.

HONOLULU (September 11) – The first planning workshop for an ecological approach to combating emerging infectious diseases (EID) in Southeast Asia will take place September 12-13, 2007 at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi. The East-West Center’s Director of Research, Nancy Lewis, and Senior Fellow Jefferson Fox are teaming up with leading public health researchers from Vietnam’s government and universities together with University of Hawai’i specialists to find ways to prevent and control EID in the region.

Background:

HONOLULU (September 13) --  The East-West Center (EWC) teams up with Sports Marketing Japan to launch its inaugural East-West Sports Summit held from November 7-9 at the EWC’s Imin International Conference Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Designed for sports marketing executives, media professionals, and others working in sports-related enterprises in government, NGO, and business sectors, this conference brings together the industry’s top leaders in the field to discuss the changing dynamics of sports markets in the Asia Pacific region.
 

HONOLULU (August 23) -- The Asian International Justice Initiative (‘AIJI’) , a collaboration between the East-West Center, Hawaii and the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley will hold a week-long workshop in international criminal law for the Office of the Co-Prosecutors (OCP) at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal August 27-31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

HONOLULU (September 5) – India’s consul general in San Francisco, (Ambassador) B.S. Prakash will address the changing profile of India and the impact on its relationship with the United States at a luncheon gathering at the East-West Center Monday, September 10.

The luncheon will begin at noon with registration commencing at 11:30 a.m. The venue is the Garden Level of the East-West Center’s Imin International Conference Center (1777 East-West Road). The luncheon is open to the public at a cost of $22 per person. RSVP deadline is Thursday, September 6. Limited parking is available on the lawn between Lincoln Hall and the Imin Center for a cost of $3.

The luncheon forum is sponsored by the East-West Center, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, Friends of the East-West Center, and the University of Hawai‘i Center for South Asian Studies.

Dr. Allen Clark
Senior Fellow, Research Program
East-West Center

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
Bank of Hawai‘i Main Branch Executive Dining Room 6th floor  

• The presentation is open to news coverage.

  To attend,or arrange for an interview, contact Karen Knudsen, Director of External Affairs, East-West Center at 944-7195 or knudsenk@eastwestcenter.org

• Attendance is by invitation. Bank of Hawaii sponsors the East-West Center AsiaPacific Breakfast Briefings.  Attendees are members of the EWC Foundation and other invited business and community leaders.

HONOLULU (July 20) – The East-West Center’s 8th Senior Policy Seminar Luncheon, Critical Issues for U.S. Policy in the Asia Pacific Region, will be held Wednesday, August 8. The luncheon is being cosponsored by the EWC, the Pacific & Asian Affairs Council (PAAC), and the Friends of the East-West Center (FEWC).

The featured panelists, all with extensive foreign policy experience, are Amb. Han Sung-Joo, president of Korea University and the Seoul Forum for International Affairs; Amb. Wu Jianmin, president of the China Foreign Affairs University; Dr. Lawrence J. Lau, president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Amb. Stephen W. Bosworth, dean of the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

HONOLULU (July 31) – The East-West Center (EWC) and the Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding Tuesday (July 31) for cooperation in energy policy and planning research. The three-year agreement establishes a framework for exchange of research and joint projects.

Ki-Yual Bang, CEO and President of the KEEI, said the new agreement will “play a significant role in promoting energy cooperation through joint studies, information exchanges, and the exchange of research personnel between Honolulu and Seoul.” He added “by working jointly the EWC and KEEI can develop much needed energy policy options.”

HONOLULU (August 21) – The East-West Center (EWC) was awarded a contract for $98,679 under a USAID Cooperative Agreement with Family Health International, to provide technical support for Vietnam’s HIV national estimates and projections project for 2007 and to extend the on-going Analysis and Advocacy (A2) project to Haiphong.
 
"The East-West Center’s collaboration with A2 project partners in Vietnam over the past two years has led to positive changes in the Ho Chi Minh City action plan for AIDS, which in turn strengthened the local response.  The team is now looking to streamline the process in order to replicate it in other sites,” according to Tim Brown, East-West Center Senior Fellow, and member of the team heading up the project.

HONOLULU (June 14) – Three Hawaii high school students have been selected to take part in the East-West Center's AsiaPacificEd Program "Partnership for Youth: Reporting for Change: Cambodia” program. Hannah Ross and Davin Aoyagi of Honolulu’s Mid-Pacific Institute and Maria Walczuk of Hilo’s Connections Public Charter School will join 18 of their mainland counterparts for the four-week program that gets underway July 1.

Focusing on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a case study, the students will analyze the role of journalism in covering an event of international importance as well as the role of the media in the democratic process.

HONOLULU (June 22) – To many it’s magic. But to others the shamanic tradition is a very real cultural heritage and a continuing part of everyday life. These healers and ceremonial leaders continue to play a leading role in the Dao, San Chay, Tay, Nung, Hmong, and San Diu minority groups living in the mountains of Vietnam.

The shamanic arts will be spotlighted in the upcoming Shaman Arts of Vietnam exhibition at the East-West Center Gallery. The exhibition gets underway Sunday, July 1 at 2 p.m. with a gala opening reception and runs through Monday, September 10.

HONOLULU (June 26) – Director of the East-West Center’s Research Program Nancy Lewis has been elected vice president of the prestigious Pacific Science Association (PSA) at its recently concluded conference in Okinawa, Japan. Serving as an officer in the influential science group is not new to Lewis. She most recently represented the PSA as its secretary-general and treasurer.

Founded in 1920, the PSA is the oldest interdisciplinary science organization in the Asia Pacific region. With its secretariat headquartered at Honolulu’s Bishop Museum, the group facilitates international research and collaboration throughout the region. It focuses on key regional issues and problems to engage science in the service of human needs and to improve the quality of life of the region’s people and of the natural world upon which they depend.

The East-West Center is hosting two events of timely interest Friday, May 25 at the Hawaii Imin International Conference Center, 1771 East-West Road.

•    Noon to 1:30 (Program to begin at 12:30 p.m.)

“Building Understanding Between the United States and the Asian Muslim World” featuring journalists from the United States and Asian nations with substantial Muslim populations. The program will feature reflections and insights by seasoned journalists stemming from their participation in the EWC’s Senior Journalists Seminar, a travel-study-dialogue program that offers the journalists a chance to engage their peers on issues dividing the United States and the Asian Muslim nations, especially since 9 /11.
 
•    5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

HONOLULU (May 25) – Creating beautiful artistic works out of flowers and greenery is something shared among many cultures throughout the world.  Hawai`i is lucky to have an abundance of beautiful and fragrant plants, representatives of many cultures, and is home to countless flower artists … a winning trifecta the East-West Center Gallery is showcasing.

HONOLULU (June 5) –Energy Economics and Policy in Mainland China and Taiwan, the first book dealing with cross-strait energy issues, was recently published by the Beijing-based China Environmental Science Press.

Co-edited by East-West Center Senior Fellow ZhongXiang Zhang and Yunchang Jeffrey Bor of the Taipei-based Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, the over 300-page book comprises 20 chapters, including 13 from Mainland China, written by senior officials, leading experts and chief executives from 21 institutes in the Mainland and Taiwan. It offers in-depth analysis of issues related to coal and clean coal technologies, oil, natural gas, power generation, nuclear energy, energy conservation, renewable energy, energy security, environmental issues, and energy cooperation across the Taiwan Strait.

HONOLULU (June 5) – The deadline for the 2007 Fall  East-West Center Jefferson Fellowships applications is drawing near, according to Susan Kreifels, East-West Center media programs coordinator. Kreifels says all applications must be filed by June 20.

The Fall program, Mekong on the Move: Asia’s New Economic Frontier?, is open to Asian, Pacific Island, and U.S. journalists with at least five years experience. The three-week travel and dialogue program takes place Sept. 30 through Oct. 21. It begins at the East-West Center in Honolulu with journalists traveling from there to Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.

Qualified journalists wishing to apply should visit the East-West Center website at www.eastwestcenter.org/jefferson for applications and details.

HONOLULU (May 14) – Participants in the East-West Center’s  Senior Journalists Seminar representing the United States and Asian countries with substantial Muslim populations will speak at noon on Friday, May 25, at the EWC’s Hawaii Imin International Conference Center (Jefferson Hall, 1777 East-West Road). Cost for the luncheon is $20 for co-sponsor members and $22 for the general public.

The seminar program affords senior U.S. and Asian journalists the opportunity to engage their peers on issues that have hurt relations between these Asian countries and the U.S., especially since 9 / 11. The Asian Muslim journalists travel to the U.S. mainland for a slice of American life, while their U.S. counterparts travel to Asia.

HONOLULU (April 23) – The East-West Center is honoring The Honorable Senator Daniel K. Inouye with its prestigious Asia Pacific Community Building Award. The award will be presented at the EWC Foundation’s annual dinner Friday, June 1, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.

The honor recognizes individuals whose vision and professional and personal accomplishments exemplify the mission of the East-West Center. Past honorees include Mr. & Mrs. Houghton “Buck” Freeman of the Freeman Foundation, former Philippine President Her Excellency Corazon Aquino, the chairman of Tata Sons Limited and influential Indian business leader Mr. Ratan Tata, and former grand master of the Urasenke Tea Tradition Dr. Genshitsu (Soshitsu XV) Sen.

It may appear to be small and simple, but the pavilion plays an important role in the daily life of the people of South and Southeast Asia. Be it a Royal sala in Thailand, a rural bus stop in India, or simply a welcomed shelter and sanctuary from the relentless hot summer sun or cool monsoon rains, throughout the region the pavilion is held in high esteem.

Sunday, April 22, from 2 to 3 p.m., the East-West Center Gallery will present a comprehensive look at this much-overlooked structure and its role in regional culture. Dr. Kazi K. Ashraf, associate professor at the School of Architecture at University of Hawaii-Manoa, will take gallery-goers through the world of the pavilion from its fundamental function to its ornamental glory.

A TRADITIONAL THAI DANCE performance will highlight the opening of the East-West Center Gallery’s latest exhibition, Sala: Gem of Thai Architecture, Sunday, March 11, 2007 beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Brief opening remarks will be delivered by Thailand’s Los Angeles-based Consul General. Co-curators of the exhibition Virginia Henderson and Dr. Michael Schuster will conduct walk-throughs of the Gallery and explain the colorful exhibits.

The newly-reconstructed Royal Sala, donated to the East-West Center by Thailand’s king, His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej, will also be open to the public. The ornately decorated gold-leaf and teak wood pavilion replaces an earlier sala gifted to the EWC by the Thai Royal Family in 1967.

HONOLULU (March 19) -- The Asian International Justice Initiative (‘AIJI’), a collaboration between the East-West Center, Hawaii and the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley will hold a week-long workshop in international criminal law for Cambodian lawyers. The workshop will be held March 26 through 30 in Phnom Penh.

HONOLULU (April 5) — East-West Center Senior Fellow Emerita Meheroo Jussawalla’s recently published book, On Six Dollars to America: A Tale of Adventure, Courage and Reward (Paperback, $13.99, Amazon.com) takes the reader on a fascinating journey. It is a trip that not only chronicles Jussawalla’s passage from her birthplace in India to the United States, but also an excursion through the mind of a captivating individual.

HONOLULU (March 7) — The infant years of the twenty-first century have seen a rapid acceleration in economic growth and political power in the Asia Pacific region. Mark Borthwick, director of the U.S. Asia Pacific Council at East-West Center Washington, takes an intelligent and at times entertaining look at the region in the recently published third edition of his seminal work Pacific Century: The Emergence of Modern Pacific Asia (Paperback, $55, published by Westview Press).

HONOLULU (March 9) – The East-West Center (EWC) received two grants totaling over $105-thousand dollars from the British Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for two projects supporting the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Both projects are part of the Asian International Justice Initiative, a partnership between the EWC and the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

EWC President Charles E. Morrison says, "We certainly appreciate these grants in underwriting our efforts to support development of the rule of law in Cambodia and to help the Khmer Rouge Tribunal bring some closure to a horrific period in Cambodian history."

Release Date:	2/14/2007

HONOLULU (May 2, 2011) – The U.S. discovery and killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan has resulted in intensified focus on the crucial but troubled relationship between the two nations.
East-West Center research fellow Dr. Shabbir Cheema is available to comment on such issues as possible impact of the Bin Laden operation on U.S.-Pakistan relations going forward, as well as reactions within Pakistan itself. Dr. Cheema, who is originally from Pakistan and previously directed governance programs at the United Nations, is an expert on Pakistani political affairs and international relations.
His contact information is :
Shabbir Cheema , East-West Center Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiatives
Email : cheemas@eastwestcenter.org
Phone : 808 944-7427

Prestigious Gathering will Focus on Economics and Justice in an Age of Global Interdependence
HONOLULU (May 12, 2011) – Nearly 200 leading thinkers from 30 different countries will gather in Honolulu May 16-24 for the Tenth East-West Philosopher's Conference , a landmark international conference series dating back to the 1930s. The theme of this year’s conference is "Value and Values: Economics and Justice in an Age of Global Interdependence."
Conference sessions are free and open to the public, and will be held at the East-West Center’s Hawai‘i Imin International Conference Center (Jefferson Hall, 1777 East-West Road).
A copy of the conference schedule can be downloaded here .

High-level speakers offer differing views at U.S. Asia Pacific Council conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 26, 2011) -- The pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, could serve as a vital stepping stone to a broader regional trade agreement, said key Asia-Pacific trade ministers who addressed the 8th annual U.S. Asia Pacific Council Conference on May 23. But they warned that the TPP will not realize this potential if trading nations abandon all efforts to conclude the World Trade Organization’s long-stalled Doha Round of negotiations.

In contrast, U.S. trade policymakers who addressed the conference were skeptical about the viability of the Doha process but quite bullish on the TPP.

HONOLULU (May 31, 2011) -- Last week, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on the (North) Korea Tangun Trading Corporation, accused of having trafficked equipment and technology listed on multilateral export control lists “or otherwise having the potential to make a material contribution to WMD or cruise or ballistic missile systems.” The new sanctions under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act will be effective for two years.
Also recently, a leaked U.N. Panel of Experts report provided a surprisingly blunt introduction to how the North Koreans—with the complicity of unnamed “third parties”—have sought to circumvent international sanctions. Among other things, the experts found that North Korea and Iran have shared nuclear missile technology and that they have received assistance, in violation of the sanctions, from China and Russia respectively.

HONOLULU (April 18, 2011) — Thirteen journalists from Pakistan and America are currently visiting each other’s countries as part of the East-West Center’s inaugural Pakistan-U.S. Journalists Exchange.
At the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the journalists participated in focused discussions on the complex U.S.-Pakistan relationship and issues facing the media in both countries. The Pakistani participants then travelled to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Columbia, Missouri, while the Americans visited Islamabad and Lahore, Pakistan.
They will meet again in Honolulu to exchange notes and impressions, and will participate in a public panel discussion on U.S. engagement in Pakistan on April 21.
The participants in the fellowship are:
Pakistan:

HONOLULU (April 8, 2011) -- Climate change experts will gather in Taipei, Taiwan, April 11-13 for an international conference on managing climate change risk in Asian coastal cities. Conference registration is open to the media and members of the public. For more information, click here .
The Second International Conference on Cities at Risk: Building Adaptive Capacities for Managing Climate Change Risks in Asian Coastal Cities (CAR II), will be held at Taipei’s Academy of Sciences. The conference is a part of an ongoing multi-year effort titled “Cities at Risk,” which aims to reduce risks and vulnerabilities of Asian coastal cities due to climate change and urban growth.
Among the topics to be addressed are:

HONOLULU (April 6, 2011) – Hawai‘i Governor Neil Abercrombie has appointed four new members to three-year terms on the East-West Center’s Board of Governors and re-appointed one currently serving member. The new members are: former Hawai‘i Governor George Ariyoshi, attorney Corianne Lau, attorney R. Brian Tsujimura, and attorney Richard Turbin. Abercombie also re-appointed the board’s current chairman, Puongpun Sananikone, an international business development consultant and alumnus of the East-West Center. Outgoing board members are Eddie Flores Jr., Betty Kwong, Roland Lagareta and Gene Ward. The EWC Board of Governors consists of 18 members, including five appointed by the governor of Hawai‘i, five appointed by the U.S.