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Is China Still Dominant Power in Asia?: International Experts to Debate April 2 at Simmons College

BOSTON (March 22, 2004) —

Long considered to be Asia's dominant world player, some international experts say China may be losing ground to India, Japan, and even some of the region's other smaller economies.

Scholars and analysts will gather Friday, April 2 to debate Asia's role on the world stage and which country will emerge as most powerful. The Conference, "Asia in 2050: China Predominant?," will be from 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Simmons College third floor conference center, Main College Building, 300 The Fenway, Boston. The conference is free and open to the public.

To assess Asia's present state and future prospects, the conference opens with a panel discussion of global issues in the region, focusing on the environment, population dynamics, and human rights. It then turns to China's economy, politics and foreign relations. The afternoon panel will consider India, Japan, and the other countries of the region.

The conference will feature keynote speaker and Northeastern University Political Science Professor Suzanne Ogden, who will speak at 1:30 p.m. Ogden, a research associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard, has been a visiting scholar in the Department of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University, and a Fulbright Scholar teaching courses on Sino-American relations and U.S. China policy at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.

The conference also includes the following experts:

  • Zachary Abuza, Simmons College professor of political science and international relations and expert in Southeast Asia terrorism
  • Peter Rogers, Harvard University McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering and Professor of City and Regional Planning, member of Harvard's Center for Population Studies, and member of the University Center for Environment
  • Nancy Yinger, Population Reference Bureau Director of International Programs
  • Merle Goldman, Boston University Professor of History Emerita
  • Yasheng Huang, Associate Professor in International Management at the Sloan School of Management, MIT
  • Qingshan Tan, Visiting Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute at The National University of Singapore; Associate Professor in Political Science at Cleveland State University; and Director of International Relations Major and Internship Program at Cleveland State University
  • M. Taylor Fravel, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University
  • Tarun Khanna, Harvard Business School, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School
  • Ayako Doi, Editor of The Daily Japan Digest

The 2004 Warburg Conference is named for Joan Warburg of Greenwich, CT, a 1945 Simmons graduate who established the Warburg Chair in International Relations with her husband, James Warburg.

Note to reporters: if you'd like to cover the event, please contact Katie Fiermonti in the public relations office at 617-521-2369.