East-West Center in the News

(2012-08-08) Gerry Finin, co-director of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East West Centre in Hawaii, says Mrs Clinton has been very supportive of the change.

"In fact, she is one of the prime movers in articulating in what the pivot or the rebalancing is all about and I think this will provide her with an opportunity at the Forum to say what the pivot means for US and Pacific Island relations," he said.

Mr Finin believes China's presence in the region is a positive one. "It is a positive kind of situation to the extent that the Pacific Islands are engaged with many countries from around the globe, and obviously China is one of the major players."

He says the post-Forum dialogue can play a part in making sure relations between China and the region, and the US and the region, are on a co-operative footing - for instance, focusing more on things like aid instead of defence.

"I think that is precisely why the Secretary is interested in going - to ensure that the dialogue moves in a very productive direction and also to ensure there are open lines of communication. As you know, there are many nations that attend the post-Forum dialogue meeting so this will allow her not only to speak with people from the Pacific but from the entire Asia Pacific region as a whole."

He believes Pacific Island leaders will be "very candid" in order to get the most out of the dialogue.

"They'll be very honest in terms of the challenges that they face as national leaders and I am sure that Secretary Clinton will have a very good appreciation of that, having spent so many years in the White House herself."

(2012-08-09)

Resident Co-Director of Pacific Islands Development Program at Hawaii's East-West Center, Gerard Finin, says the Forum will give Ms Clinton an opportunity to explain the United States' strategic pivot away from Europe and the Middle East towards the Pacific.

"I think they'll [Pacific leaders] be very candid, they'll be very honest in terms of talking about the challenges that they face as national leaders, and I'm sure that Secretary Clinton will have a very good appreciation of that."

(2012-08-20) (Online access by subscription only. The Star-Advertiser is also available in the RIS Periodicals Room).

"Hawaii has no choice but to go to natural gas. It's just the speed that is in question. You can go fast or slow, but you have to go," Fereidun Fesharaki, an East-West Center senior fellow, said last week.

... The natural gas option has been discussed in Hawaii in the past during periods of high oil prices, Fesharaki said at a seminar sponsored by the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum and HAWAI'IGAS, the state's only gas utility. But enthusiasm waned when oil prices would eventually retreat, he added.

"This time I see oil staying in the $80-to-$120-a-barrel range for many years to come," said Fesharaki, who also heads an international energy consulting firm.

... "The gap between natural gas and oil prices will continue into the future," Fesharaki said.

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(2012-08-19)

“There is mounting evidence that countries have experienced a demographic dividendwhen fertility declines because the share in the working ages increases,” he said. “The basic idea is simple there are many more workers per person and, hence, higher standards of living can be achieved.”

... “This is the amount added to per capita income by changes in population age structure due to the ongoing decline in fertility rates in Pakistan,” he said.

“There are some important secondary effects that could perhaps double this effect. So I would say that fertility decline in Pakistan should have favourable effects on the economy over the coming decades. More rapid fertility decline would push these benefits higher and help with some of the problems that arise with such a large and growing population – congestion, environmental stress.”

(2012-08-19)

"It is important to have an initiative that is not top-down but is citizen-oriented," Charles Morrison, president of the Hawaii's East-West Center, a think tank specializing in Asia-Pacific issues, said Saturday.

(2012-08-19) Calling unification a "historic inevitability," Charles Morrison, president of the East-West Center, a think tank in Hawaii, said it was necessary for peace and prosperity in the region.

"I don't think you can have an Asian-Pacific community without a united Korea," he said.

Morrison also noted that Korea is the last of the countries broken up as part of the settlement of World War II that remained divided. He said that the Six Party talks only addressed the North Korean nuclear issue and not unification.

(2012-08-29) While much of China's historic engagement with the region has been to counter diplomatic advances by its rival, Taiwan, it has now moved beyond that, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East West Center in Hawaii.

"It is now probably more accurate to see the growth of Chinese influence in the South Pacific as not necessarily part of a scripted and controlled plan by the Chinese government," Roy said.

"It has become broader, part of China's economic and government interests going abroad and seeking the room that comes with being an emerging power."

-- Also appears in: Chicago Tribune, GMA News Online, Himalayan Times, IT Business Net, Oman Tribune, 1044 Metro Plus, South Bend Tribune