Asiatica Association

We have just received the International Edition of the Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, vol. 33/ February 2020, which is published by the Institute of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, Academy of East Asian of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU - Seoul, Korea). It includes English and Korean papers.

Contents

Scholar's Corner: "Confucianism in and for the Modern World", by Philip J. Ivanhoe

Articles: "How Virtue Reforms Attachment to External Goods", by Bradford Cokelet; "An Analytic Approach to Contemporary Confucian Revivalism(s)", by Henrique Schneider; "Ambivalnce of Family and Disunity of Virtues in Mencius' Political Philosophy", by Tao Jiang; "Shared Ends: Kant and Dai Zhen on the Ethical Value of Mutual Fulfilling Relationships", by Justin Tiwald; ""Chinese" Philosophy or "The-Chinese-Language" Philosophy?", by Yang Xiao; "Critiquing Heavily Normative onceptions of Harmony", by Eric Lang Harris.

Feature Book Review 

A History of Chinese Political Thought, by Jiyan Qiao

Appendix

The fate of the Kurds in northern Syria is now in the hands of Vladimir Putin. The USA, worldwide flag of liberty and democracy, last week withdrew from Syria, unleashing the imperialist greed of the Turskih president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump knew that the US withdrawl from Syria - and from Afghanistan - would destabilyze the region. Still, in Syria he did it. Yesterday Erdogan said that they will never declare a ceasefire because "we do not sit at the table with terrorist organizations."

As we know, last week Turkey last week launched an offensive across the border into Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria, and local Syrian Kurdish leaders made a deal with Syria's government to enforce the border. While five days ago Turkey threatened to send millions of Syrian refugees to Europe, if Europe sanctioned or condemned their military intervention in northeast Syria, Europe has been silent for days. Yesterday Trump announced that he would sanction Turkey for its offensive in Syria.

US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut commented in Twitter the decisions of his President: "Trump waved Turkey into Syria. He sent out a press release proudly announcing their invasion. He effectively put rose petals on the ground to welcome them. Inviting Turkey to invade and then sanctioning them for invading is insanity. No one should fall for it".

What is going to happen now? The situation is tragic for the Kurds, and for the security and stability of Europe and Asia. Europe should be united, firm and active in preventing further bloodshed at his doorstep. The local NGOs have already left the invaded area. The US, Europe, Russia, and Turkey will have to seat at a table and make a deal to ceasefire; but I am afraid that, in the meantime, too many innocent civilians will be Turkey's casualties. Time is almost over.

From the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBAC): We are proud to announce the opening of the IsIAO Library, Room of the African and Oriental Collections, thanks to the collaboration between the National Central Library of Rome and the Association of International Studies on the Mediterranean and the East - ISMEO.

Info on the Ministry site.

India and Pakistan decades of tensions have been escalating since the suicide car bombing that happened in Pulwama on 14 February 2019. In the bombing, a militant from Jammu and Kashmir killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force members. The terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility, while Pakistan's government condemned the attack. Reacting to the attack, on 26 February the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes inside Pakistan. Since then, India and Pakistan have retaliated one another with a series of actions, while most nations worldwide expressed concerned, and Turkey and Iran offered to mediate the crisis.

A summit meeting between Japan and Russia took place on January 22. At the press conference following the meeting, Prime Minister Abe and President Putin emphasized that they are aiming for a mutually acceptable solution regarding the territorial issue and intend to further deepen cooperative relations between the two countries, mainly in economic areas. 

Since Prime Minister Abe announced at the Japan-Russia Summit Meeting held in Singapore on November 14, 2018 that he had reached an agreement with President Putin to accelerate negotiations on a peace treaty based on the Japanese-Soviet Joint Declaration signed in 1956, the two leaders have met in three straight months and have accelerated negotiations on a peace treaty as indicated in the Prime Minister’s comments. This column looks back at previous negotiations between Japan and Russia and addresses a few points regarding how negotiations might proceed.

1  Background to the territorial problem
The primary reason that Japan and Russia have not concluded a peace treaty more than 70 years after the war ended is the lack of a solution to the territorial problem between the two countries. Let’s start by briefly reviewing the background of the territorial problem between Japan and Russia. 
The Soviet Union’s entry into the fight against Japan at the end of the Second World War was the primary cause of the territorial problem between Japan and Russia. The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union concluded the Yalta Conference Agreement in February 1945 as the outcome of combat on the European front was becoming evident, and the Soviet Union agreed to enter the battle against Japan within 2-3 months after Germany’s defeat on the condition that it acquire the southern half of Sakhalin, which was lost in the Russo-Japanese War, and the Kuril Islands (the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia in 1855 put the national boundary for Japan and Russia between Etorofu and Uruppu islands and the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (Karafuto-Chishima Exchange Treaty) in 1875 gave all of the Kurils through northernmost Shumshu island to Japan). Additionally, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met in Potsdam in July 1945 and issued the Potsdam Declaration signed by the US, the UK, and the Republic of China (the Soviet Union signed the the Declaration on August 8, 1945) that called on Japan to surrender. However, since Japan did not respond to the Potsdam Declaration, the Soviet Union ignored the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, which was still valid at that time, and declared war against Japan. It started attacking Manchuria and the Kuril Islands on August 9. The Soviet Union continued its attack even after Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and occupied the Kuril Islands, including the four islands just north of Hokkaido between August 28 and September 5. It absorbed these islands as its own territory in February 1946. These events led to the Northern Territories problem that continues to the present.

NOTE: This paper has been published in the Japan Institute of International Affairs.  Opinions expressed in this article are those of the Author.

An interesting article on the strategies to cope with the threat to future populations’ food security due to the way we eat and produce food: "Eat Plants, Save the Planet", by Tharanga Yakupitiyage. 

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 2019 (IPS) - While the modern agricultural system has helped stave off famines and feed the world’s 7 billion residents, the way we eat and produce food is posing a threat to future populations’ food security. With an expected increase in population to 10 billion in 2050, ensuring food security is more important than ever. However, current food production is among the largest sources of environmental degradation across the world. f such production and consumption patterns continue, we will soon exceed our planetary boundaries such climate change and land use needed to survive and thrive. [more]

The Society for Tantric Studies invites papers for its next conference, to be held in Flagstaff, Arizona from Friday September 27 through Sunday September 29, 2019.  The conference provides an opportunity for scholars to collaborate across traditional boundaries of religious traditions (e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism), present-day nation-states and geography (e.g. India, Tibet, China, Japan), and academic disciplines (e.g. history of religions, anthropology, art history, linguistics, sociology).  More info: The Society for Tantric Studies 

We have received by snail mail the Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies, 146 (May 2018 - vol. 37, no. 2), a hard copy quarterly published by the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) of Taiwan (The Republic of China). The journal is published in Chinese and subtitled in English.

In this issue: Summary of Research, Introduction of Materials, Book Review, Conference Reports, News from Academia.