Events & Calendars Koji Murata: "Strategic Challenges in the Indo-Pacific Region"

Japanese and American domestic politics will certainly influence broader strategic pictures of the Indo-Pacific region. The Chinese Communist Party's congress was held in October 2022. Thus, I would like to exchange my views on the regional strategic issues. According to the Japan Center for Economic Research, China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will surpass that of the United States in 2033. The United Nations' statistics note that India's population will surpass China's population, and India's GDP will surpass Japan's GDP in 2028. As the Sino-U.S. rivalry is increasingly intensified, what kind of role Japan can and should play between them is an extremely important and tough question for Japan and its neighbors. In order to answer this question, we have to investigate economic, social, technological and demographic factors as well as politico-military ones.

Speaker Bio:
Koji Murata is currently professor of Political Science, in the Faculty of Law, at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Professor Murata obtained his B.A. in Political Science from Doshisha University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Kobe University in Kobe, Japan. He also received his MPhil in Political Science from The George Washington University, where he studied as a Fulbright student from 1991 to 1995.

Professor Murata served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 2011 to 2013, and president of Doshisha University from 2013 to 2016. He was also Special Advisor for Minister of Defense Kono Taro from 2019 to 2020. Professor Murata's specialties include the history of U.S.-Japan relations, American foreign policy in Northeast Asia, and American politics and films.