David D. Arnold

On Monday, The Asia Foundation announced David D. Arnold will become its new president and CEO in January 2011. A highly respected philanthropy and development veteran, Mr. Arnold is currently the president of the American University in Cairo and is a former Ford Foundation representative who worked for years in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. He also served as executive vice president and interim president at the Institute of International Education in New York. “I have known and admired the work of The Asia Foundation for many years, and am honored to be the next president of this visionary organization,” said Mr. Arnold. “Sensitivity, knowledge, and agility have long been hallmarks of the Foundation’s programs and people, and the assistance it provides throughout Asia is critical to the future development of the region. I am joining The Asia Foundation with great enthusiasm and a strong commitment to its mission, values, and aspirations.” Read full announcement.

Douglas Bereuter

Mr. Arnold succeeds former Congressman Douglas Bereuter as president and CEO, who retires from his leadership position December 31, 2010, having fulfilled a six-year commitment to the Board of Trustees. In a related statement Monday, The Asia Foundation announced it has experienced unprecedented growth and diversification in programming, funding, and staff under Congressman Bereuter’s successful tenure. “It’s been a very special privilege to lead this remarkable organization,” Mr. Bereuter said. “I am proud of the work we have done to actively invest in Asian organizations, coalitions, and citizens, and I hand the presidency over with both satisfaction and confident anticipation of its exciting future. Events in Asia critically affect American and global peace and prosperity; therefore, the work of The Asia Foundation has never been more important.” Read full announcement.

By Carol Yost and Barbara Rodriguez

The International Violence against Women Act of 2010 originally introduced by now-Vice President Joseph Biden, was recently re-introduced in both houses of the 111th Congress after failing to come to a vote in the previous Congressional session. On February 4, Senators Kerry (D-MA), Boxer (D-CA), Collins (R-ME), and Snowe (R-ME); and Representatives Delahunt (D-MA), Poe (R-TX), and Schakowsky (D-IL) re-introduced this ground-breaking legislation in a seemingly anachronistic display of bipartisanship. The House bill (H.R. 4594) currently names 37 co-sponsors, the Senate bill 25. Both are now being reviewed by their respective foreign affairs committees, while the House bill is also being considered by the House Committee on Armed Services.
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By Lisa Hook

Next week on Monday, December 7, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen will commence. Despite deteriorating hopes for a binding international treaty to aggressively tackle climate change, the potential remains for useful dialogue, collaboration, and concerted steps forward. Already in the works is an agreement for collaboration on clean energy and climate change between China and the United States – two major countries that will contribute to the pace of the Copenhagen negotiations. But what does this collaboration mean on the ground in practical actions and output, beyond the high-level agendas and statements?

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By Lee Hong-koo

We welcome President Barack Obama with open arms, not just out of customary habit among friends. South Koreans share the world’s interest in President Obama’s global activities because he embodies a new path for the United States in international relations as well as in ties with old allies like us.

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By John J. Brandon

This week Barack Obama will make his first trip to Asia as President of the United States. In addition to paying state visits to China, Japan, and South Korea, President Obama will meet with 20 national leaders in Singapore to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Although member countries vary in economic clout individually, APEC economies collectively represent 55 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, 45 percent of global trade, and 40 percent of the world’s population.
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By Jonathan Stromseth

When President Obama makes his first visit to China next week, he will meet a Chinese leadership with growing confidence in international affairs and observe an economy that is rapidly recovering from the global recession. At the same time, he will witness a country whose legal and political landscape is replete with contradictory trends and vexing anomalies. While official firewalls continue to impede free access to the Internet, for instance, the government has issued national Open Government Information (OGI) regulations that have enhanced government transparency and increased the information rights of individual citizens. And while China remains a one-party state that consistently ranks at the bottom of international indices on “voice” and political participation, government authorities are taking concrete steps, amidst growing public demand, to enhance opportunities for citizens to participate in the formulation of laws and government decisions that will affect their daily lives.
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By John J. Brandon

On November 15, after the APEC Leaders meeting, President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the first-ever U.S.-ASEAN summit. For the past 12 years, both the Clinton and Bush administrations resisted calls for a U.S.-ASEAN summit over concern that because Burma is a member of ASEAN, such a summit would amount to acceptance of bilateral talks with Burma. The Obama Administration has said they are not going to punish the other nine ASEAN members simply because Burma is in the room, and has been careful to say this is not a bilateral. Since taking office in January, the Obama administration has shown from the start that it wishes to engage Southeast Asia in a more comprehensive manner, through ASEAN, rather than as a set of 10 bilateral relationships. This is both significant and welcome.
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President Obama will also visit Korea on this trip against a backdrop of tensions between North and South Korea after a naval skirmish and just-announced plans to send special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang in the near future. On the heels of the joint vision statement between South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak and President Obama in June, The Asia Foundation’s Seoul office hosted a seminar last week to explore the challenges and opportunities of what the Hon. Hwang Jin-Ha, Member of the ROK National Assembly, called in his keynote address “one of the strongest alliances in the world.” Three presentations focused on international peacekeeping, overseas development assistance, and maritime security. Co-hosted by the Foundation’s Center for U.S. Korea Policy (CUSKP), this is the second discussion in a three-part series examining opportunities for U.S.-ROK cooperation. Read more about the speakers.
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On Thursday, November 5, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace will host and stream live a discussion on President Obama’s trip to Asia next week. Asia Foundation Trustee Douglas Paal, who is Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will discuss President Obama’s trip with Michael Pettis, a senior associate in the Beijing-based Carnegie China Program, and Taiya Smith, a senior associate in the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program, and the Carnegie China Program. Expected to be among the most important foreign tours during his first year in office, the president will visit Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea from November 12 through November 19. During the trip he will attend the annual summit of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation in Singapore, where he will be the first U.S. leader to hold formal talks with all 10 heads of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Watch the discussion live here at 12:15 p.m. EST on November 5.

The world economy is slowly recovering but the effects of the financial disaster are far-reaching, especially for the U.S. Besides the immediate impact of the crisis on economic growth and employment, there are serious questions about America’s confidence in its global leadership and the future of its relationship with Asia.

On October 23, Douglas Bereuter, President and CEO of The Asia Foundation, will deliver a keynote address at a conference on the effects of the financial crisis on the U.S. and its key Asian allies. Titled “Implications of the Financial Crisis on American, Chinese, South Korean and Japanese Soft Power in East Asia,” the October 22-24 conference will be hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in Chicago, Illinois.