CIAO DATE: 06/06

Pacific Affairs:
An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

 

Winter 2004/2005 (Vol. 77 No. 4)

Articles

• The Impact of the State on Workers' Conditions ­ Comparing Taiwanese Factories in China and Vietnam
  Anita Chan and Hong-zen Wang

  Taiwanese-managed factories in Vietnam treat workers better than in China. This paper seeks to explain this unexpected phenomenon. Four factors are seen to contribute to this difference: the two country's household registration systems, the living arrangements of workers in these factories, the behavior of the two nations' trade unions and, crucially, the role played by the two governments. This comparative study concludes that intervention by the state is critical in improving labor conditions.

• Legacies of Matriliny: the Place of Women and the "Kerala Model"
  Robin Jeffrey

  Kerala's famed matrilineal system disintegrated in the twentieth century, and the last legal vestiges were abolished in 1976. This essay discovers that legacies of matriliny endured in 2003. Matrilineal precedents still affected cases in civil law; matrilineal attitudes had left their mark on employment structures; and sentimental attachment to matrilineal practices influenced the disposal of personal property and the organization of public trusts. The paper argues that expectations and sentiments stemming from matriliny were the key ingredient that made Kerala, and the place of its women, so notably different from the rest of India and many other places in the tropical, ex-colonial world.

• The Evolution of US-ROK Security Consultation
  George Ehrhardt

  US-ROK consultation is often praised, but rarely explained. This article examines the history, motives and (often diverging) interpretations of US-ROK consultation. In doing so, it lays out a theoretical framework for distinguishing types of consultation and understanding why states value different types depending on their position in an alliance. It argues that consultation serves two functions in an alliance: technical consultation to coordinate behaviour, and political consultation to alleviate a dependent state's concerns about its ally's actions. During the decades that it controlled the ROK's foreign policy, the US has rarely been interested in political consultation, but the ROK's growing independence since the late 1990s has resulted in a different dynamic: whereas South Korea today seeks technical coordination to ensure that the United States and Japan match its policies towards North Korea, the United States is more interested in political coordination to discuss goals and approaches prior to planning policy.

• Domestic and International Considerations of Taiwan's 2004 Presidential Election: An Interdisciplinary Roundtable
  Scott Simon, Wang Fu-chang, Joseph Wong, André Laliberté and Robert D'A. Henderson

  On March 20, 2004, Taiwanese presidential incumbent Chen Shui-bian was re-elected with a thin margin of victory. Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ticket, with feminist Annette Lu as vice-president, garnered 50.11 percent of the vote, compared to 49.89 percent for Lien Chan and James Soong in a coalition of the former ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP). It was the first time the DPP received the support of over 50 percent of the electorate, a victory once thought impossible. This set of essays, based on a roundtable held at the Canadian Asian Studies Assocation annual meetings in Calgary in October 2004, is an interdisciplinary look at the implications of this historical event for Taiwanese society, politics, and relations with China.

  Scott Simon examines how the historical experiences of different groups during the transition from Japanese to KMT rule led to the construction of ethnic identities that influence national identities, nationalist ideologies and voting behaviour. Wang Fu-chang further analyzes these ethnic dynamics, attributing increased support for the DPP to both the skillful campaigning of former president Lee Teng-hui and President Chen's ability to serve Hakka communities during his first term in office. Joseph Wong discusses the difficulties faced by the KMT as it becomes an opposition party. André Laliberté looks at the pressing need to revise Taiwan's constitution as part of democratic consolidation. Robert Henderson then concludes with implications of the election on cross-straits relations as the Taiwanese state asserts itself more strongly in the world but China continues to claim sovereignty over the island.

• Notes

Books Reviewed In This Issue

Asia General

• The India-china Relationship: What the United States Needs to Know. Edited by Francine R. Frankel and Harry Harding.
  Reviewed By William L. Richter

• War And State Terrorism: The United States, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century. Edited by Mark Selden and Alvin Y. So.
  Reviewed By Mark Wisniewski

• Tensions Of Empire: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Colonial and Postcolonial World. By Ken'ichi Goto, edited and with an introduction by Paul H. Kratoska.
  Reviewed By Leszek Buszynski

• Improving People's Lives: Lessons in Empowerment from Asia. Edited by Mukul Sharma.
  Reviewed By Jennifer Chan-Tiberghien

• Central Asia: Aspects of Transition. Edited by Tom Everett-Heath.
  Reviewed By Mark S. Johnson

• Late Qing China And Meiji Japan: Political and Cultural Aspects. Edited by Joshua A. Fogel.
  Reviewed By Peter Zarrow

China and Inner Asia

• Popular Political Support In Urban China. By Jie Chen.
  Reviewed By Lisa M. Hoffman

• Building Local States: China During the Republican and Post-Mao Eras. By Elizabeth J. Remick.
  Reviewed By Patricia M. Thornton

• Only Hope: Coming of Age Under China's One-Child Policy. By Vanessa L. Fong.
  Reviewed By Jaeyoun Won

• Advertising To Children In China. By Kara Chan and James U. McNeal.
  Reviewed By Jos Gamble

• À La Recherche D'une Ombre Chinoise: Le mouvement pour la démocratie en Chine (1919-2004). By Jean-Philippe Béja.
  Reviewed By Michel Bonnin

• Social Policy Reform In Hong Kong And Shanghai: A Tale of Two Cities. Edited by Linda Wong, Lynn White and Gui Shixun.
  Reviewed By Kwong-leung Tang

• The Cult Of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China. By James A. Flath.
  Reviewed By Chang-tai Hung

• War And Nationalism In China: 1925-1945. By Hans J. van de Ven.
  Reviewed By Dennis Showalter

• China's Use Of Military Force: Beyond the Great Wall and the Long March. By Andrew Scobell.
  Reviewed By Harlan W. Jencks

• Culturing Modernity: The Nantong Model, 1890-1930. By Qin Shao.
  Reviewed By Rana Mitter

• China Unbound: Evolving Perspectives on the Chinese Past. By Paul A. Cohen.
  Reviewed By Prasenjit Duara

• Chinas Unlimited: Making the Imaginaries of China and Chineseness. By Gregory B. Lee.
  Reviewed By Michael Dutton

• Empires Of The Mind: I.A. Richards and Basic English in China, 1929-1979. By Rodney Koeneke.
  Reviewed By Ruth Hayhoe

• Transnational Chinese: Fujianese Migrants in Europe. By Frank N. Pieke, Pál Nyíri, Mette Thunø and Antonella Ceccagno.
  Reviewed By Philippe Bourbeau

Northeast Asia

• Beyond Bilateralism: U.S.-Japan Relations in the New Asia-Pacific. Edited by Ellis S. Krauss and T.J. Pempel.
  Reviewed By John Ravenhill

• Japanese Foreign Policy At The Crossroads: Challenges and Options for the Twenty-First Century. By Yutaka Kawashima.
  Reviewed By Davis B. Bobrow

• Japan's Dysfunctional Democracy: The Liberal Democratic Party and Structural Corruption. By Roger W. Bowen.
  Reviewed By Brian Woodall

• Japan And Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society. Edited by Mike Douglass and Glenda S. Roberts.
  Reviewed By Charles Weathers

• Youth Deviance In Japan: Class Reproduction of Non-Conformity. By Robert Stuart Yoder.
  Reviewed By Brian J. McVeigh

• Islands Of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power. Edited by Laura Hein and Mark Selden.
  Reviewed By Keisuke Enokido

• Understanding Japanese Society: Third Edition. By Joy Hendry.
  Reviewed By Bernard Bernier

• Nationalism And Gender. By Chizuko Ueno, and translated by Beverley Yamamoto.
  Reviewed By Millie Creighton

• To The Ends Of Japan: Premodern Frontiers, Boundaries, and Interactions. By Bruce L. Batten.
  Reviewed By David L. Howell

• The Peripheral Centre: Essays on Japanese History and Civilization. By Johann P. Arnason.
  Reviewed By Daniel Botsman

• Beyond The "Judgement Of Civilization": The Intellectual Legacy of the Japanese War Crimes Trials, 1946-1949. By Ushimura Kei, translated by Steven J. Ericson.
  Reviewed By Alexis Dudden

South Asia

• Nuclear Stability In Southern Asia. Edited by P.R. Chari, Sonika Gupta and Arpit Rajain.
  Reviewed By William L. Richter

• The Afghan War And Its Geopolitical Implications For India. Edited by Salman Haidar.
  Reviewed By James Boutilier

• Kashmir In The Shadow Of War: Regional Rivalries in a Nuclear Age. By Robert G. Wirsing.
  Reviewed By Reeta Tremblay

• Jihadis In Jammu And Kashmir: A Portrait Gallery. By K. Santhanam, Sreedhar, Sudhir Saxena and Manish.
  Reviewed By Reeta Tremblay

• Ethnicity Versus Nationalism: The Devolution Discourse in Sri Lanka. By Partha S. Ghosh.
  Reviewed By Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam

• Rabindranath Tagore: A Biography. By Uma Das Gupta.
  Reviewed By Kathleen M. O'Connell

Southeast Asia

• Culture And The Question Of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and Seas in Southeast Asia. Edited by Charles Zerner.
  Reviewed By Paul K. Gellert

• The Political Ecology Of Tropical Forests In Southeast Asia: Historical Perspectives. Edited by Lye Tuck-Po, Wil de Jong and Abe Ken-ichi.
  Reviewed By Peter Dauvergne

• Civilizing The Margins: Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities. Edited by Christopher R. Duncan.
  Reviewed By Jim Glassman

• Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society. Edited by Hy V. Luong.
  Reviewed By Geoffrey B. Hainsworth

• Rites Of Belonging: Memory, Modernity, and Identity in a Malaysian Chinese Community. By Jean Debernardi.
  Reviewed By Tan Chee-Beng

• Chinese Studies Of The Malay World: A Comparative Approach. Edited by Ding Choo Ming and Ooi Kee Beng.
  Reviewed By Lee Yok Fee

• Minorities, Modernity And The Emerging Nation: Christians in Indonesia, A Biographical Approach. By Gerry van Klinken.
  Reviewed By Judith Nagata

• Indonesian Houses: Tradition and Transformation in Vernacular Architecture. Edited by Reimar Schefold, Gaudenz Domenig and Peter Nas.
  Reviewed By Roxana Waterson

Australasia and the Pacific Region

• From White Australia To Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration. By James Jupp.
  Reviewed By Graeme Hugo

• Nugget Coombs: A Reforming Life. By Tim Rowse.
  Reviewed By John Lea

• Breaking Spears And Mending Hearts: Peacemakers and Restorative Justice in Bougainville. By Pat Howley.
  Reviewed By Alex Golub

• The Quest For Origins: Who First Discovered and Settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands? By K.R. Howe.
  Reviewed By Toon van Meijl

• Forever In Paradise. By Apelu Tielu.
  Reviewed By Penelope Schoeffel