Session Title: Asia Turning Left or Right? Viewing Economic Nationalism and National Security In Motion from Countries in Southeast, South, Northeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands
Friday March 25, 2022, 3:30 PM-5:00 PM in person panel, Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu

Session Chair: Kathryn Ibata-Arens, PhD, Vincent de Paul Professor of Political Economy, DePaul University

Economic nationalism (EN) has a long pre-capitalist history. Developing countries worldwide have pursued protectionism for economic development, technological catch-up, and national security. Asia-Pacific countries have since embraced global capitalism without abandoning domestic firms or compromising national security concerns – negotiating between demands of the international market and domestic politics. Meanwhile, EN was partly to blame for failures of international cooperation during Covid-19 pandemic response and against threats to human security posed by climate change, whose costs are borne unfairly by Pacific Island economies. EN has been behind such reactions as India and Japan to not only China’s economic, technological, and military ascendance but also responding to economic disruptions, social inequality, and manufacturing decline. In this roundtable debate, we reassess the role of contemporary EN in Asian economies considering the shifting economic and political hegemonies in the world economy wherein countries accommodate rising players while advancing their own economic, technological, and military agendas. We evaluate contrasting policy announcements and instruments of EN in Asia drawing from original field research in Asian and Pacific economies, review whether these policies are simply pro-business, military strategies for national security, or whether they have had real impact on the economic and social well-being of citizens in these countries. 

D’Costa explains India’s EN under PM Modi’s “Make in India” and the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) treaty. Harwit assesses domestic and international security tensions in Chinese technology industries: e-commerce, social media, and telecommunications. Ibata-Arens analyzes techno-national trends in biomedical (biologic, pharma) innovation and strategic entrepreneurship in China, India, and Japan. Hien informs about Vietnam finance and banking, particularly vis a vis competing interests in ASEAN and nationalist sentiments behind RCEP. Ou examines Chinese tourism and investment in Pacific Island Countries and US territories, particularly in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Ozaki shares insights about Japan’s policies regulating inward-FDI and stimulating industrial development. As Asia becomes the center of the global political economy, our roundtable debates whether recent trends and events reflect Asian countries turning more politically progressive, transnational, and inclusive (left) or returning to authoritarian, protectionist, and anti-foreign postures (right) - or both?  

Panelists

Anthony D’Costa, PhD, Professor of Economics, College of Business, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Honorary Academic Fellow, Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne

Eric Harwit, PhD, Professor, Asian Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Kathryn Ibata-Arens, PhD, Vincent de Paul Professor of Political Economy and Research and Innovation Leadership Fellow, Office of the Provost, DePaul University

Yuan Zhi (Owen) Ou, East-West Center Fellow , University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Pacific and Asian Studies

Toshiya Ozaki, PhD, Professor of International Business, College of Business, Rikkyo University