Pacific Basin

As the first comprehensive gathering of researchers from throughout the Pacific Basin to consider over a million years of collective human heritage along the Pacific shores, this conference was subtitled: "Bringing a million years of human heritage to Washington State." The conference was part of Washington State's centennial celebration of statehood.  As Conference Coordinator, I spent two years on grants obtained through my Washington State University base as a Centennial Staff member in downtown Seattle.

We brought together 800 attendees to the Seattle Center to hear 225 presenters from August 1 - 6, 1989 (from 18 different countries outlining human evolution and archaeology in 40 countries from around and within the Pacific Basin).  We also had a 5 day session on Indigenous People's perspectives of their own origins from throughout the Pacific--all organized and conducted by Native Peoples.

Hope you enjoy viewing the many events, exhibits, evening Public Speakers, and banquet reached by boat at Tillicum Village Cultural Center, Blake Island, off Seattle.

A distinct aspect of the program was the gathering of the draft papers before the conference and WSU Press (who printed the program & abstracts, presenter bibliographies, and publicity) printing 6 spiral ring volumes to sell at the actual conference (they sold very well on site and for years through WSU Press; and original 6 volumes are currently in my archive at WSU Library Archives for researchers).

Also we commercially tape recorded ALL of the sessions to sell from the conference and a complete and unused set of audio cassette are also on file at WSU Library Archives (they are planning to digitize these recordings for open access).

Two WSU Press compiled publications from the conference were prepared by the leads of these sessions and were still available through WSU:

PACIFIC NORTHEAST ASIA IN PREHISTORY, Hunter-Fisher-Gatherers, Farmers, and Sociopolitical Elites,  Edited by C. Melvin Aikens and Song Nai Rhee (1992) [including several Korean archaeologist attending the conference, bringing Korean archaeology to a professional audience].

PACIFIC LATIN AMERICA IN PREHISTORY, The Evolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures,  Edited by Michael Blake (1999).

Overall, with the 6 pre-print conference papers volumes, tape recordings of all sessions, and two resulting prepared WSU Press volumes, the Washington State Centennial Pacific Basin Conference was well preserved for scholars and indigenous peoples into the future.

Cepeda-Ladino, Julio-César. 2014. 'La política exterior transpacífica de Colombia a comienzos del siglo XXI: actualidad y perspectivas'. Paper presented at the 'III Congress of Colombian International Relations Network' ('III Congreso de la Red Colombiana de Relaciones Internacionales). Medellín: Universidad EAFIT. February 27-28.

Pacific Basin has become the most important geostrategic region today, due to the growing interdependence expressed in the political and economic complex dynamics, dating from mid-twentieth century. Colombian Transpacific Foreign Policy has undertaken several international insertion strategies in Asia Pacific with over emphasis on finding the admission to APEC. In the twenty-first century, international and regional cooperation systems are still major changes, reason that the country should be consistent with these processes. To do this, the actors and stakeholders will have to perform a complete diagnosis in order to the formulation of a prospective strategy to diversify the agenda of relations with this region of the planet. The call is to go beyond the traditional meaning given to APEC in order to ensure a better reading of the next stages of the trans-Pacific cooperation.

La Cuenca del Pacífico se ha convertido en una región de valor geoestratégico debido a la creciente interdependencia en sus complejas dinámicas de cooperación político-económica. Colombia, en su política exterior transpacífica, ha realizado diferentes estrategias de inserción internacional en Asia-Pacífico con un excesivo énfasis en la búsqueda del ingreso a APEC. En los albores del siglo XXI, los sistemas internacional y de cooperación regional siguen teniendo grandes transformaciones, razón por la cual el país debe estar en sintonía con estos procesos. Para ello, los actores y grupos de interés tendrán que realizar un completo diagnóstico que permita la formulación de una estrategia prospectiva de diversificación de la agenda de relacionamiento con esta región del planeta. El llamado está en ir más allá del tradicional significado dado a APEC con el fin de garantizar una mejor lectura de los próximos escenarios de la cooperación transpacífica.

Cepeda-Ladino, Julio-César. 2011. 'Corea del Sur y Colombia en APEC y FOCALAE: Una visión comparada 2001 - 2010'. Paper presented at the 'V Meeting of Korean Studies in Latin America' ('V Encuentro de Estudios Coreanos en América Latina'). Bogotá: Universidad Sergio Arboleda. October 5-6.

South Korea and Colombia as Pacific Basin States, has had a differential participation in Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation - APEC and in Forum for East Asia – Latin America Cooperation – FEALAC. In this sense, the investigation will focus on the similarities and differences among the two countries respect to political and economic cooperation during the first decade of XXI century. For this purpose, a methodology will be used for comparing South Korea and Colombia’s performance in both forums, from the principles underlying APEC and FEALAC.

Corea del Sur y Colombia como Estados presentes en la Cuenca del Pacífico, han participado de manera diferenciada en el Foro de Cooperación Asia-Pacífico – APEC y en el Foro de Cooperación América Latina – Asia del Este – FOCALAE. En este sentido, la investigación estará encaminada a mostrar las semejanzas y diferencias entre los dos países en materia de cooperación política y económica durante la primera década del siglo XXI. Para ello, se utilizará una metodología que permita comparar el desempeño que han tenido Corea del Sur y Colombia en ambos foros, a partir de los principios que fundamentan a APEC y FOCALAE.

The idea of Chile as a 'bridge country' that connects-or should connect-Latin America with the Asia-Pacific region has guided its commercial diplomacy since the early 1990s. We argue that this geopolitical vision corresponds closely with what network analysts describe as a 'broker': an actor that bridges 'structural holes' by connecting otherwise disconnected actors or groups of actors. As a relational approach, social network analysis provides an alternative way of thinking about Chile's position in international relations that does not rely on preconceived groupings or rank orders based on country attributes, as in the case of 'middle powers' and 'small states.' Further, the approach allows us to empirically explore which countries of the Pacific Basin currently perform such a role and whether (and when) Chile conforms to the theoretical expectations of a 'transpacific broker.' Using network data on commercial agreements (1980-2018), we trace Chile's emergence as a transpacific broker and discuss how its commercial diplomacy provided the country with leverage in this regard. In doing so, the study sheds light on the opportunities and limitations of peripheral actors seeking to gain social capital through networks of relations.

We are all aware of the rapid economic progress that has been made by Japan but many of us do not realise how considerable is the present economic power of Japan. Its economy, as measured by the size of its GDP, is much larger than that of any other country in the non-communist world, except the USA. Given the current policies of Japan, the Japanese economy is likely to continue to perform well in, the future but the going can be expected to be more difficult than in the past. Now that Japan is entering its mature stage of economic development, a stage in which it must rely to a greater extent on its own research and development and less on the import of technology, the growth rate of Japanese GDP can be expected to be slower than in the past. The size of the Japanese mature economy will continue to be of advantage to it in the development of technology and trade. By any standard, the present economic power of Japan is considerable and can be expected to increase but at a less dramatic rate than in the last 20 years.

This study examines the association between keiretsu affiliation and corporate equity value in Japan. We hypothesize that, ceteris paribus, keiretsu firm value, measured as Tobin's Q, is higher than non-keiretsu firm value, reflecting the improved or active monitoring role of the keiretsu arrangement. The empirical tests are supportive after controlling for other financial and ownership variables. The results also show that keiretsu firm value is positively related to the strength of the keiretsu. This is additional evidence that the monitoring provided by the keiretsu relationship does indeed increase corporate equity value, and that the source of the increase in value is not merely a result of cross-shareholding, but inherent to the keiretsu arrangement. However, the effect of keiretsu membership and influence on market equity values has apparently diminished since 1990 (the post-market crash period in Japan).