On 6 October 2017 researchers from Japan and Poland participated in a seminar at the Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw. An initiative of the head of the centre – Adam Eberhardt – the seminar is held at regular intervals with the SRC. This seminar was the third so far and was organized by Marcin Kaczmarski who was a 2016 Foreign Visitors Fellow at the SRC. There was a dynamic discussion on not only the seminar theme of Russia but also on Chinese policy in South East Asia and Japan’s response. The small number of participants meant frank views could be exchanged in ‘off the record’ discussions, especially about the situation in Russia.

 The seminar was part of the research achievement of the following projects: ‘Reconstructing International Relations through Border Studies’ (Principal investigator: Akihiro Iwashita, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research A), ‘New developments in Sino-Russian relations’ (PI: David Wolff, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research B) and National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) Area Studies Project for Northeast Asia Slavic-Eurasian Research Center Hokkaido University.

 The program was as follows:

Joint OSW-SRC seminar: Russia’s turn to Asia: between expectations and reality

Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw, 6 October 2017

6 Oct., Friday

9.45 – 11.45 Session I

Russia-China relations: between the marriage of convenience and the alliance in all but name

Chair: Adam Eberhardt

Introductory remarks (10 min each followed by discussion):

• Chisako Masuo (Kyushu University) Beijing and Moscow: Global Affinity and Regional Rivalry upon China’s Ascendance
• Marek Menkiszak (OSW), Moscow’s perspective on relations with China
• David Wolff (SRC), Russo-Chinese Relations: Lessons from a Long History
• Marcin Kaczmarski (OSW), Beijing’s perspective on relations with Russia

12.30-14.30 Session II

East Asian politics between Russia and China

Chair: Akihiro Iwashita

Introductory remarks (10 min each followed by discussion):

• Witold Rodkiewicz (OSW), Kremlin’s Policy in Asia: Diversification manqué.
• Akihiro Iwashita (SRC), An Epitaph to the Northern Territories Issue: A New Era of the Japan-Russia Relations?
• Szymon Kardaś (OSW),
• Keiko T. Tamura (Kitakyushu University), Emerging China and Southeast Asia: ASEAN at a turning point?  

(Akihiro Iwashita)