Center for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies

Region:

This region is of major importance to Russia. East Asia includes China – a country gradually forming new geopolitical and economic systems around itself, Japan – one of the main global centers in modern international relations, the KoreanPeninsula – a territory with major economic resources on one hand, but with significant potential for military and political instability on the other hand. The Center actively examines the whole range of issues connected with Russian policy in East Asia and the possibility of using cooperation with states in the region for the development of the Russian Far East. The Center has conducted a number of major events addressing those questions, including the following round table discussions: “The Demographic Situation and Migration Policy in the Russian Far East: Security, Integration Processes,  Countrymen Abroad” (December 2004), “Current Problems in Russian-Chinese Relations and the Path to their Resolution” (December 2005), the all-Russia Conference “Russian-Chinese Cooperation: Problems and Solutions” (December 2006) and the all-Russia Conference “Russia and the Multifaceted Structures of the Asia-Pacific Region” (December 2008). Every autumn since 2005, the CEAS and the Japanese Association of Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries have been conducting a Russian-Japanese conference with the general title of “In Search of New Paths for the Development of Eurasia” (until 2007 titled “Development and Stability in Northeast Asia”), with the participation of leading Russian and Japanese scholars and foreign affairs journalists. The CEAS has twice been responsible for organizing the Asia-Pacific Region panels at Conventions of the Russian International Studies Association (RISA). Leading experts from research centers and government agencies both from Russia and abroad actively participate in CEAS-organized events.

“The Second Track” of the SCO

As Vladimir Putin has said, “The total population of the member countries and the observer states comes to more than three billion people. This means that…the leaders of these states, the heads of government of our countries, make decisions that have an impact on the social and economic wellbeing of the vast majority of people on our planet. This in itself is a significant factor in international politics.”[1]

Over the course of its operations, the CEAS has become a leading Russian research center for the study of SCO-related issues, as well as an active participant in the “second track,” an unofficial mechanism for dialogue within the framework of the SCO. In 2006, the CEAS acted as one of the founders of the SCO Forum. According to the Charter adopted at the first constitutive session of the SCO Forum held at MGIMO, “The Forum is a many-sided, non-government, consultative-expert tool created for the assistance and scholarly support of SCO activities, and to develop cooperation between research centers among SCO member states, conduct joint research on pressing questions within the Organization’s sphere of reference, articulate the tasks and principles of SCO activities, expand its ties to research institutions and social groups, as well as to encourage the exchange of opinions between scholars and experts in the fields of politics, security, economics, environment, and in humanitarian and other areas.” One authoritative research institution from each SCO member state was included in the Forum’s structure and was given the status of NationalResearchCenter of the SCO. The CEAS holds that status in Russia. In other member states, they are as follows: The Chinese National Center for SCO Research (established at the Chinese Institute for International Relations), the International Institute for Modern Policy (Republic of Kazakhstan), the Institute for Strategic Analysis and Assessment under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Center Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Representatives from research centers of SCO observer states (India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan) and other interested countries also take active part in the “second track” events.

In 2006, the CEAS initiated the creation of the Russian SCO Public Expert Research Council  that included specialists and experts on SCO issues from leading Russian research centers. MGIMO President and RussianAcademy of Sciences (RAS) member Anatoly Torkunov was elected chairman of the Council. The Council conducts annual meetings to discuss SCO development, the activity of the SCO Forum and to coordinate the Russian position for the next session of the SCO Forum. In a series of analytical reports of the Scientific-Coordination Council for International Research, the CEAS produced materials of the first, constitutive session of the Forum, including the constituent documents of that organization. In addition, CEAS staff prepared a series of analytical reports and policy papers on questions related to SCO development that received excellent evaluations from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

Domestic and International Partners:

The Center maintains a wide array of contacts with a number of universities and scholarly organizations both in Russia and abroad. Among them are –

 the Institute of World Economy and International Relations,

the Institute of Far Eastern Studies and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RussianAcademy of Sciences (RAS),

the Russia’s Institute for Strategic Studies,

the Institute of the History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East

and the Institute for Economic Studies of the RAS Far Eastern Branch, the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok), the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies of the Brookings Institution (USA), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (USA), the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of George Washington University (USA), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London, United Kingdom), the Institute of Social Development of Eurasia of the Center for Development Studies under the State Council (PRC), the Institute for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, the Institute of Russia of the Academy of Social Sciences of Heilongjiang Province (PRC), the East Asia Institute (Republic of Korea), the Japanese Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries (Singapore), Graduate Institute of Russian Studies of National Chengchi University and the Academia Sinica Institute of Political Science (Taiwan). The Center also works closely with the Russian Foreign Ministry – primarily with the First Department of Asia, the Department of General Problems of Asia and the Department of the Asia-Pacific Region.

The International Expert Community:

Because the CEAS conducts research into questions of international relations and domestic policy of the East Asian states and the area of reference of the SCO, and also conducts major organizational work in conducting conferences, seminars and other scholarly events in that field, the Center also considers one of its most important tasks to be uniting the best forces within the Russian expert community – regardless of their institutional affiliation – for the accomplishment of the its goals. Those goals include: analysis of the situation in the region under study and the development of recommendations for conducting optimal Russian policy in relation to the states and international organizations in that area. For this reason, in addition to the CEAS and MGIMO academics, other research centers and universities in Russia and abroad author the Center’s analytical materials and participate in its events. These include such eminent regional specialists as Russian Federation Council Deputy Chairman Mikhail Nikolayev, individual members of the Federation Council, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Igor Rogachov, Ambassador Georgy Kunadze, professors of the Oriental Studies Department of  MGIMO, RAS full members Mikhail Titarenko, Vladimir Myasnikov and Nodari Simoniya, RAS corresponding members Gennady Chufrin and Vasily Mikheyev, as well as the senior research fellow at the RAS Institute of Economics Lev Delyusin.

The CEAS also invited scholars from abroad to carry out research work at the Center. They include the deputy director of the Institute of State Administration at Jilin University (PRC), professor Liu Qingcai, director of the Institute of Aesthetics at Chongqing University (PRC), professor Huang Liang, Professor of the History Department at Hong Kong University Michael Share. Foreign researchers, journalists and officials of foreign embassies and representative offices in Moscow regularly visit the CEAS to ascertain the opinion of Center staff concerning the international situation in the region under study.

Practical Recommendations:

Analytical materials and policy papers prepared by the CEAS are meant to be practical: each report contains both general information and concrete recommendations for government agencies.  The Foreign Ministry, Federation Council committees, the State Duma and the Administration of the President of Russia wrote special letters singling out many CEAS recommendations for their usefulness and practical value.

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