Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 22, August 7, 2005
Takahiro MIYAO (Professor, GLOCOM)
Partial transcript and translation from Prof. Miyao's Radio Program, posted here with permission of Radio Nikkei
| Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 22 |
| Radio Nikkei daiichi hoso ; BS Radio Nikkei 300 ch. |
| Broadcast time: | August 7 (Sunday) 19:00-19:30 |
| Recording place: | Recorded in Radio Nikkei's Studio |
| Program: | 1. Introduction
2. Virtual Discussion
3. Trend Research
4. Concluding Remarks |
| Audio: |
Radio Program  (Windows Media Player)
(Mainly in Japanese but some parts in English)
Asia Station Web site (in Japanese) |
Introduction
Hello, how are you? I am now back in Japan after visiting Los Angeles for two months, and having hard time adjusting myself in Japan's hot and humid summer weather. I hope you are doing OK by taking it easy. Today I will first take up an article entitled "Economic Integration of East Asia and the Exchange Rate Arrangement - A Currency Basket System Most Effective" written by Tokyo University Professor Masahiro Kawai. This is a very important article especially in view of the recent adjustment of the Chinese currency. Then there will be a special interview with University of Southern California Professor Emeritus George Totten, who will talk about Japan-US-China relations and also about his late wife's contribution as a notable journalist originally from China. It should be quite interesting, so please stay tuned.
Virtual Discussion
Today we will take up an important article "Economic Integration of East Asia and the Exchange Rate Arrangement - A Currency Basket System Most Effective" written by Tokyo University Professor Masahiro Kawai. Although this article was written just before the recent adjustment of the Chinese currency, its importance has increased since China adopted a kind of currency basket system for the yuan. Here, Professor Kawai says that the East Asian economy is becoming more and more interdependent and it is desirable for Asian countries to adopt a currency basket system based on the yen, the U.S. dollar and the euro in order to stabilize exchange rates within East Asia. Furthermore, in the long run East Asian countries might go for a common currency like the Euro, but in that case Japan would have to make a decision whether to stay away from the common currency just like Britain, in which case China might well be the center of East Asian economic integration or to join the common currency union just like Germany in EU. If Japan is to participate actively in the process of East Asian integration, the only viable option is to adopt the approach similar to that chosen by Germany, according to Professor Kawai.
I think it is a good idea to adopt a common currency basket system for the East Asian region, but we need to be careful about the adoption of a rigid common currency like the Euro even in the long run. In fact, national borders are being raised rather than lowered in this globalized world, as we have recently witnessed in EU. What do you think? Please send us your comment on this important issue.
Trend Research
Today, we will hear a special interview that I did while I was visiting USC, University of Southern California in Los Angeles last month. The interviewee is USC Professor Emeritus George Totten, who is a well known political scientist, specializing in democratic movements in Japan, Korea and China. Professor Totten is fluent in several languages including Japanese, so the interview was conducted in Japanese.
(A summary of the interview with Professor Totten can be seen in the August issue of our Newsletter: http://www.glocom.org/newsletters/newsletter_20050729.pdf)
Concluding Remarks:
If you have any comment on today's program, please contact us through our Radio Nikkei hompage (www.radionikkei.jp/joho). Actually you can hear our past broadcast program through our homepage. I hope you enjoyed today's program. Our next program will be on the first Sunday in September, that is, September 4. See you then.
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