Newsletter

Director’s Note

Thank you for your continued interest in the Berkeley APEC Study Center (BASC). Through your readership, we are excited to continue being part of an interdisciplinary conversation regarding the dynamics of the increasingly critical Asia-Pacific region.

We hope this newsletter will help enhance your understanding of the linkages between politics, economics, and business related to the Asia-Pacific region. BASC is especially grateful for the generous support from the Institute of East Asian Studies, the Social Science Matrix, the Center for Chinese Studies, and the Center for Korean Studies for our cooperative projects. We are also deeply grateful for the UC National Laboratory Fees Research Program’s sustained support in our collaboration with the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in San Francisco. Finally, we are also deeply grateful for the sustained support of the Center for Global Partnership of the Japan Foundation, the Ron and Stacey Gutfleish Foundation, the Notre Dame Pietas Foundation, and our ever-expanding group of former BASC alums.

BASC Projects

These articles reflect the work of BASC over the last year. We are pleased to present two adapted versions of published articles that are a part of our “Indo-Pacific Geo-Economic Competition Project.” In the first, BASC Director Vinnie Aggarwal and Deputy Director Andrew Reddie examine economic statecraft in the 21st Century and outline the implications for the future of the global trade regime. In the second, Research Affiliate Tim Marple discusses the international race for digital fiat currencies and steps for the United States to restore leadership through a digital dollar.

Economic Statecraft in the 21st Century
Updating Dollar Diplomacy

Research Analyses

We are also excited to present a series of research analyses that examine the range of strategic, economic, and social concerns that BASC looks to address. Project Director Ishana Ratan offers commentary on the contours of U.S.-China clean technology competition, the origins of these great powers’ industrial policy strategies, and the implications for clean technology governance going forward. Our undergraduate Research Assistants have also made valuable contributions. Wanjun Zhao assesses the importance of news media in shaping public opinions and the political and economic determinants of media biases in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war. Zeroing in on state incentives, regime effectiveness, and systemic factors, Zhijie Ding analyzes the dual crises of the World Trade Organization and provides policy recommendations for institutional reform. Finally, Gavin Zhao documents the challenges that the UK’s and China’s accession applications pose to the scope and strength of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Last but not least, we are pleased to present a summary of a newly published book by T.J. Pempel, Jack M. Forcey Professor Emeritus in Political Science at UC Berkeley, where he analyzes the relationship between the political economies of ten East Asian countries over a forty-year period along with the changing regional orders that have resulted.

Chasing the Sun: U.S.-China Green Technology Competition
Media Bias in the China-U.S. Trade War
Revitalizing the Global Trading System
Accession Challenges to the CPTPP
T.J. Pempel’s New Book: A Region of Regimes

Past Newsletters

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