Pacific Forum Programs & Projects

Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP)

The Pacific Forum is also proud of its leading role in the formation, in 1993, of the multinational CSCAP, then the first and today still the leading region-wide forum aimed at fostering multilateral security dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region. Member committees have been established in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, North and South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, U.S., and Vietnam. Taiwan scholars also participate, increasing CSCAP's inclusivity. CSCAP members promote regional security and stability through dialogue, consultations, and cooperation on concrete policy issues and problems of mutual concern.

Young Leaders Fellowship Program

In 2004, the Pacific Forum established a Young Leaders Fellowship Program to actively involve young professionals and graduate students in our policy research and dialogues. Our aim is to foster practical education in policy-making, to generate a greater exchange of views between young and seasoned professionals, and to promote cross-cultural interaction among the young professionals themselves. To date, nearly 200 Young Leaders have attended Pacific Forum conferences in Brunei, China (Beijing and Shanghai), Indonesia (Jakarta), Japan (Osaka and Tokyo), the Philippines (Manila and Cebu), Singapore, Taiwan (Taipei), Vietnam (Danang and Hanoi), and the United States (Honolulu, Maui, San Francisco, and Washington DC). We frequently arrange supplemental programs with national, state, and local government officials and political, civic, and academic institutions in conjunction with the conferences. Core funding is provided by the Luce Foundation and the Freeman Foundation. The Strong Foundation, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Chevron, and the CNA Corporation have also provided invaluable support and a growing number of U.S. and Asian universities, institutes, and government ministries now sponsor participation of their most promising students and junior professionals in Young Leader activities. Young Leader essays are routinely published in our Issues & Insights volumes. Proceeds from the 2008 Pacific Forum Board of Governors annual dinner will go to support the Young Leaders.

A generous grant by long-time Pacific Forum CSIS Board of Governors member Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco makes it possible for a number of Philippine-Americans and promising young professionals and graduate students from the Philippines to actively take part in the Young Leaders program as Yuchengco Fellows.

Lloyd R. (Joe) and Lilian Vasey Fellowship Program

In 2002, the Pacific Forum established a an endowment Program to commemorate the 85th birthday of our founder, RADM (USN, Ret.) Joe Vasey. Endowment proceeds help fund a continuing series of Vasey Fellows, young scholars from throughout the Asia-Pacific region who serve as junior researchers at the Forum in order to gain an appreciation for international security affairs and policymaking challenges. Vasey Fellows are full participants in the Young Leaders program. The 2008 Vasey Fellows are Jiyon Shin from Seoul and Shanshan Wang from Beijing. Youn-ok Kim from Seoul will join us mid-year. Previous Vasey Fellows have come from China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Scowcroft Chair in International Security Studies

In 2005, the Pacific Forum established a Scowcroft Chair in International Security Studies in honor of General Brent Scowcroft, who served as Chairman of the Forum's Board of Governors from 1992 to 2005. The first chair holder is James A. Kelly, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Pacific Forum President Emeritus.

Visiting Fellows Program

This program provides both prominent and up-and-coming Asia-Pacific scholars and officials with unique exposure to a broad range of Pacific Forum programs and activities, while also enhancing in-house research capabilities. Previous Visiting Fellows have come from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. The Monterey Institute of International Studies has, on several occasions, sent MA candidates to the Pacific Forum as part of a semester practicum.

Japan-U.S. San Francisco Security Seminar

This annual seminar provides a unique opportunity for unscripted dialogue that contributes to problem-solving on current issues and long-range thinking on the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance. The Pacific Forum has co-hosted this seminar with the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) since 1995. Participants include experts on alliance management issues, including current and former senior policymakers from the diplomatic and military communities, as well as analysts and scholars. The March 2007 meeting featured keynote speakers Ambassador Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State, and Ambassador Ryozo Kato, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. This dialogue will continue at the 14^th seminar in March 2008 in San Francisco.

U.S.-Japan Strategic Dialogue

Sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the dialogue explores strategic dimensions of the bilateral relationship and focuses on the role of deterrence. This is a new project that brings together a small, select group of experts to examine in detail the two countries’ views of the strategic environment and the mechanics of the alliance. The results of these discussions, which will be held in Maui in February 2008, will feed into the U.S.-Japan Security Seminar that follows in March.

Re-examining Strategic Goals in U.S.-Japan-China Relations

With core funding from the U.S.-Japan Foundation, the Pacific Forum is convening this workshop with 15-20 experts from the three countries to examine a range of political, security, and economic challenges facing the three powers, including recent China-Japan tensions. The outcome will draw attention to the long-term strategic goals of the three countries and how current policy positions and pronouncements B on all three sides B impact the realization of these goals. This project also incorporates the views of Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders: one session is devoted to next generation views of the trilateral relationship. The 2007 meeting was held in Nanjing, China; the 2008 meeting will be in Tokyo in April.

U.S.-China Bilateral Relations

This annual workshop series, cosponsored with Fudan University in Shanghai, brings together a small group of experts from both countries for candid dialogue that explores commonalities and differences in the two countries' long-term visions of regional security, including how the China-U.S. relationship impacts other security relationships in the region, particularly with Japan, North and South Korea, and Russia. The 2008 meeting will be held in the summer in Honolulu. The Ford Foundation and CNA Corporation provide primary support.

U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue

In partnership with the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and the Advanced Systems and Concepts Office of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Pacific Forum CSIS has held two rounds of a track two dialogue B one that is unofficial, but includes academic and governmental participants (the latter in their private capacities) B to discuss the two countries’ nuclear weapons strategy, doctrine, and crisis management techniques. These meetings help identify misperceptions regarding each side's nuclear strategy and doctrine and highlight potential areas of cooperation or confidence building measures that might reduce such dangers. The 2007 meeting was held in Honolulu in November under DTRA sponsorship; the next meeting is tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2008 in Honolulu.

Strengthening U.S.-ROK Relations

The Pacific Forum CSIS has for many years conducted at least one program annually dedicated to strengthening relations between the United States and the Republic of Korea. For example, in January 2007, the Pacific Forum co-hosted with the Mansfield Foundation the first round of a new dialogue that brings together policy makers and opinion leaders from the U.S. and South Korea who are expected to be in a position to influence the bilateral relationship. This discussion will continue for another year, meeting several times in 2008. This dialogue aims to influence and better inform the positions of the new governments in the ROK and the U.S. which will take office in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

U.S.-Korea-Japan Relations for the 21^st Century

This project, supported in part by the Japan Center for Global Partnership and the Institute for Defense Analysis, will build a dialogue among the three countries to develop a stronger sense of the economic, political, and security goals shared by the U.S. and it’s two key allies. Factors such as the role of domestic politics in shaping foreign policies, growing economic interdependence among the three, (including the impact of a U.S.-Korea FTA), and shifts in alliance relations between the U.S. and the ROK and the U.S. and Japan. Up-and-coming and mid-career professionals will play a prominent role in devising policy recommendations for improved trilateral relations by providing next generation perspectives. This project builds upon the Forum's earlier work on building a trilateral “virtual alliance.” An expansion of this project to include Chinese participation is also being contemplated. The Korea Foundation will help support the 2008 meeting.

Asia-Pacific Security Forum

Since 1997, the Pacific Forum has collaborated with the Institute for National Policy Research (Taipei), the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (Manila), and Asia Centre (Paris), to conduct this annual forum that brings together about 30 senior experts to examine regional and global issues, including (but not limited to) cross-Strait relations. The meeting venue alternates between Taipei and other locations. The fall 2007 meeting was held in Taiwan, and featured an additional two-day Young Leaders Program, supported by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, which included visits to the legislature, political party headquarters, and think tanks. The 2008 program will be held in the summer in Honolulu.

Taiwan Senior Executive Course

The Pacific Forum collaborates annually with our parent Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington to arrange a field trip to Washington and Honolulu for Taiwan general officers and senior civilian officials dealing with international security issues. The Washington program includes visits to the Pentagon and other military facilities and roundtables with leading defense and foreign policy specialists. In Honolulu, the group continues its dialogue and debate with local experts and also visits the U.S. Pacific Command and other military installations for command briefings and orientation tours. The visits are traditionally held in September.

Examining U.S.-Taiwan Relations: “The Arlington Process”

For three years, the Pacific Forum CSIS, working with the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University in Taipei, has brought together experts and officials from the U.S. and Taiwan for a quiet but intense off the record dialogue that probes critical issues in the relationship. In the past this discussion has facilitated an honest and candid exchange of views between the U.S. and Taiwan at critical junctures. Participants have gone back to both governments with frank recommendations on how to improve the relationship and avoid future crises in confidence. A 2008 meeting is planned in April.

New Power Dynamics in Southeast Asia: Issues for U.S. Policy

This project is part of a multiyear Stanley Foundation project. The project examines the impact of changing power relations in the Asia-Pacific region on Southeast Asian politics, security, and economics and the implication of these trends for U.S. policy. The Stanley Foundation project will culminate with recommendations for a new US administration following the 2008 elections. The June 2008 Honolulu meeting will be the wrap-up session for the project.

East Asia Strategy Report

Despite the growing importance of East Asia for U.S. strategic interests, the U.S. government has not produced an East Asia Strategy Report for a decade. Working with the Center for Naval Analysis and the National Defense University, the Pacific Forum CSIS will conduct a year-long series of meetings and workshops to produce a draft East Asia Strategy Report for consideration by the next administration in Washington.

National Identity and its implications for U.S. alliances with the ROK and Japan

The Pacific Forum CSIS has long tried to build better trilateral relations among the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. This goal has been impeded in recent years, but political change in the three holds out the hope for an improvement in relations. To help promote this outcome, Pacific Forum executive director Brad Glosserman and senior associate Scott Snyder are exploring the dynamism of national identity politics in the two countries in the aftermath of the Cold War and its implications for U.S. alliances in Northeast Asia. A conference in the second half of the year will review their published findings.

Cross-Strait Fellows Research Project

This proposed effort will bring one young Taiwanese and one young Chinese research fellow to the Pacific Forum to work on a joint research paper aimed at developing a realistic, time-phased series of confidence building measures (CBMs) between Taiwan and China, including a list of specific recommendations on how the two can improve relations with one another and with the U.S. The Fellows’ final product will be published as a Pacific Forum Issues & Insights which will be posted on the Pacific Forum's website and distributed broadly to policy officials and other interested parties. The Fellows will also participate fully in the Forum's Young Leaders program. We are currently seeking funding for this effort.

Roundtables, Dialogues, and Collaborative Efforts

In addition to our Lane Lectures in Diplomacy, the Pacific Forum also hosts a series of roundtables and security-oriented dialogues and collaborates with other institutes in promoting greater awareness of Asia policies, interests, and concerns. Pacific Forum specialists have been involved in special projects conducted by the Asia Foundation, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies, to mention but a few. We do not engage in lobbying or other efforts on behalf of the U.S. or any other government and do not engage in classified research.

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