HONOLULU (June 26, 2011) -- The United States and China held their inaugural round of U.S.-China Asia-Pacific Consultations at the East-West Center on Saturday, June 26, with delegations headed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai. The consultations are an outcome of the third U.S.-China strategic and economic dialogue that was convened in May.

By Charles E. Morrison

(Note: This commentary first appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser on July 31, 2011.)

The East-West Center is a Hawai‘i-based, federally-supported institution, long a key part of U.S. outreach to the countries of the Asia and the Pacific and a fixture in Honolulu.

When a House committee recently voted to eliminate the 1960 authorizing legislation for the Center, friends and alumni were alarmed, even though few observers believe the bill has any likelihood of becoming law.

Maya Soetoro-Ng, daughter of Ann Dunham, shares insights about her mother's handicraft collection.The mother of President Barack Obama, EWC alumna S. Ann Dunham (1942-1995), is recognized in her own right for her outstanding work in anthropology, which focused on the small craft industries in Indonesian villages. “This exhibit shows how much she really valued the labor of the people,” noted EWC Curator Michael Schuster.

HONOLULU (Nov. 4, 2011) -- EWC President Charles E. Morrison participated today in a videoconference with about 80 students and teachers at Scarsdale High School in New York, focusing on issues related to the APEC Leaders Meetings in Honolulu next week. Also participating in the discussion was Robert Koepcke, Deputy Director of the U.S. State Department's Bureau for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.

Video of the discussion will be posted soon as part of the launch of a new online school exchange program called "Open Channels," which will connect more than 60 schools in the U.S., Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere.

As the leaders of 21 economies gathered in Honolulu to take part in APEC meetings and activities, the East-West Center ramped up into high gear.  The EWC hosted three public speeches by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang, and Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak (click link to view video/transcript) and cosponsored a business symposium.Secretary Clinton p

The East-West Center community was saddened to learn of the sudden death on Nov. 29 of Adjunct Senior Fellow Jon Van Dyke, a University of Hawaii law professor and longtime associate of the Center. He was a leading authority on constitutional, international and maritime law, as well as indigenous and environmental issues. Recently, he participated in an EWC-organized meeting of supreme court justices from ASEAN countries.

Our thoughts and deepest condolences go to Jon’s wife Sherry, his family and his many friends, students and colleagues. The University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law has created a tribute page, where those who wish to do so may share their condolences and memories.

The EWC’s AsiaPacificEd Program for Schools launched the AsiaPacificEd Crossings Website and educational initiative. This online resource, established just prior to the APEC Summit in Honolulu, has already enabled more than 1,400 K-12 students and educators from 48 schools in eight APEC economies (Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and United States) to explore and connect with the Asia Pacific region. 

Lee Howell of the World Economic Forum presents the keynote address at the International Graduate Student Conference.IGSC co-chairs Apinya Jantunyarux & Asmatullah Junejo (center) with presenter Lee Howell and EWC directors and board members.

EWC President Charles E. Morrison (center) and EWC Foundation VP Mangmang Brown with Island Pacific Energy President Joseph Saturnia and members of the EWC Sustainability Task Force.

As part of his recent visit to Hawai’i, the Dalai Lama participated in an April 15 panel discussion with Native Hawaiian cultural leaders Nainoa Thompson and Pualani Kanahele at EWC’s Hawai’i Imin International Conference Center. The private event was organized by the Hawai’i Community Foundation through a grant from the Omidyar Ohana Fund.
Photo: PillarsofPeaceHawaii.org.

On April 29, the Government of Japan conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays on EWC Adjunct Project Specialist Robert Toshio Nakasone in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.

EWC Obuchi Project Specialist Robert NakasoneNakasone founded the Hawaii Uchinanchu Business Group in 1993, and later went on to establish the Worldwide Uchinanchu Business Association in 1997, expanding the network to 22 chapters around the world.  In doing so, he successfully brought together global entrepreneurs and small Okinawan-ancestry business owners, promoting not only U.S.-Japan exchanges but exchanges worldwide.

SUSI participants from Southeast Asia present their eco-solutions at the EWC.As part of the five-week SUSI institute (Study of the U.S. Institute for Student Leaders on Global Environmental Issues), the East-West Center recently hosted a showcase of student-generated solutions for local environmental problems. The ‘Gallery of Eco-solutions’ focused on four themes: sustainable agriculture and food security; waste management; watersheds; and climate change and energy.

By Charles E. Morrison

(Note: This commentary originally appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sept. 12, 2012)

It may not compare to APEC or the G-20 for global economic weight, but for the Pacific island nations, the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit is the premier regional meeting. It brings together heads of the island nations (including Australia and New Zealand) with representatives of international organizations and “dialogue partners,” including the United States, China, Japan and many others. For the Cook Islands, with less than 15,000 residents, hosting last week’s PIF was a rare event made especially significant by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unprecedented stop to attend the post-meeting partner dialogue ­– the highest level U.S. participation ever.

Governor and Mrs. Ariyoshi with Rick Tsujimura, EWC Board of Governors' Chairman, at the EWC award banquet.The East-West Center honored the Honorable George R. Ariyoshi, former Governor of the State of Hawai'i, with the presentation of the Asia Pacific Community Building Award for his dedication to strengthening the bonds of understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Award recognizes outstanding leaders whose vision and professional and personal accomplishments exemplify the mission of the East-West Center.

By Edward J. Shultz

(Note: This commentary originally appeared in The Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Oct. 16, 2012)

The recent eruption of protests throughout the Muslim world points once again to the stability of our globe being threatened by people with the intransigence of fundamentalists. It was fundamentalists in the United States who produced a reprehensible video vilifying the Islamic faith, and it was fundamentalists throughout the world who took to the streets to protest this affront to their faith and culture. In East Asia we are witnessing a somewhat similar escalation of tensions as fundamentalists in China, Korea and Japan push these three countries down an increasingly volatile path leading to growing animosities. And regrettably this is a verbal slugfest among U.S. allies and friends.

Pakistani and American journalists discuss insights from their March 2013 Pakistan-U.S. Journalists Exchange study tours to each other's countries.

Ambassadors Thomas Armbruster (Marshall Islands) & Helen Reed-Rowe (Palau), with PIDP Co-Director Sitiveni Halapua. On April 4, 2013 the U.S. ambassadors to the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands participated in an informal discussion at the East-West Center intended to launch a broad-ranging conversation about the future of U.S. engagement with the freely associated Pacific island nations. Participants included policymakers, Pacific island scholars and public intellectuals. Topics included the future of the freely associated states in the regional system, migration, institution building and new paradigms for engagement. 

HONOLULU (April 24, 2013) -- Last month in Singapore, the East-West Center realized a four-year goal to gather ASEAN-wide young environmental leaders to create collaborative project proposals in what was deemed ““an incredible, innovative, and enriching workshop” by Eric Watnik, the Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. 

Fifty-seven alumni from the Study of the US Institutes (SUSI) at East-West Center and University of Montana Mansfield Center (UMT) spent three intensive days crafting proposals for the chance to win $25,000 from the U.S. State Department’s Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund. 

HONOLULU (Sept. 4, 2103) -- Graduate students from India and Pakistan participated in a two-way video conference last week as part of a cross-border East-West Center project, funded by the U.S. State Department, that brings together experts, scholars, young professionals and university students from both countries to explore development issues in critical ‘peri-urban’ areas that lie between cities and the countryside.

EWC environment researchers Melissa Finucane and Victoria Keener gave a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill Sept. 17 on the findings of the recent Center-led Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment, which will be included as regional input to the federal government’s upcoming National Climate Assessment. Hawai‘i Sen. Brian Schatz, who co-hosted the briefing, said that “In Hawai‘i and throughout the Pacific, climate change is not an abstract concept –it is already having very real consequences.”

Sen. Schatz speaks at the climate briefing.

Among the major concerns for Hawai‘i and the Pacific Islands that Finucane and Keener discussed are:

APIA, SAMOA (Aug. 29, 2014) -- Youth leaders from 18 Pacific nations have converged in Samoa this week for the second ‘Future Leaders of the Pacific’ conference, organized by the U.S. embassies in New Zealand and Samoa in partnership with the East-West Center and held in connection with next week’s International Conference on Small Island Developing States.

Photo: US Embassy New ZealandThe youth delegates are meeting with more a dozen of the region’s top dignitaries to discuss regional issues such as non-communicable diseases, gender equality, climate change and sustainable development in the Pacific.

The East-West Center community is saddened by news of the recent passing of the Center’s first leader, Murray Turnbull, and longtime arts and exhibits coordinator Jeanette "Benji" Bennington.

"Murray Turnbull was the father of the concept of bringing the young people of the Asia Pacific region together, and the East-West Center was established because of him," said EWC President Charles E. Morrison. "And Benji was an incredible, invaluable resource during her decades of service at the Center. She embodied the EWC spirit, and her legacy remains with us all.”

The 2014-2015 Pacific Islands Women in Leadership (WIL) Program held its capstone workshop in Suva, Fiji, May 17-23, 2015.  The weeklong program allowed the participants to reconnect with each other as well as make new connections within the Pacific Region.

The group reported on the status of the projects they started upon returning home after the initial program workshop held in Honolulu in October 2015.  Two of the participants from Fiji shared their projects with the WIL group with site visits.

HONOLULU (July 21, 2015) -- The East-West Center has received a second Green Business Award from the state of Hawai‘i, which recognizes organizations for outstanding effort in improving their environmental footprint. In 2011, the Center became the first educational institution to receive the award.

Honolulu (October 12, 2015) – Wyatt Gordon, a current EWC degree fellow in in urban and regional planning, recently returned from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he competed in Pidato Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu , or International Malay Language Speech Championship. The first American to ever to reach the final round of this competition since it was started nearly a decade ago, he took third place overall and won a prize of $3,000 after delivering a speech in Malay on how he found his heritage through language.  The speech contest was broadcast live in front of a studio audience of several thousand people, including the Prime Minister, and was viewed by a television audience of several million viewers across Southeast Asia.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 4, 2016) -- In the Philippines Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the nation’s new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States is constitutional, the court cited the policy brief “Implications of the US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement” from the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Bulletin series. The analysis, authored in 2014 by Dr. Aileen S.P.

The East-West Center, in partnership with Yale University and the Pacific Basin Research Center, launched the new book The Evolution of Development Thinking: Governance, Economics, Assistance, and Security at the United Nations on December 15, 2016. (Watch video of the book launch.)

Name in the News

New Head of the East-West Center Returns to Hawaii

By Maureen O’Connell
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Jan. 27, 2017

When Richard R. Vuylsteke left his post as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong to become the East-West Center’s 11th top executive at the start of the new year, he was eager to begin work at his Honolulu alma mater of sorts.

With millions of people who live in “peri-urban” areas at the edges of cities in Asia suffering from enormous deficits in basic urban services, spillover environmental impacts and weak local governments, policymakers in the region recognize the urgent need for solutions to cope with the range of issues impacting residents of these areas.

HONOLULU (July 5, 2017) -- The East-West Center played host to several women's leadership programs in the last week of June, bringing together participants from around the world to meet and collaborate on issues of women's advancement and equality.

In early 2017, staff from the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program partnered with the U.S. Army to help provide instruction for the Army’s Young Alaka‘i leadership development initiative, which prepares high-potential mid-career officers from across the Indo-Asia-Pacific area of operations for senior leadership positions. The program assists participants as they move from the operational outlook needed in their current roles to the more strategic mindsets required in senior ranks.