On December 14, the day after the Lisbon Treaty was signed at the meeting of the European Council, the above seminar was held at the Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo. The European Constitutional Treaty signed in 2004 was rejected by the French and Dutch national referendums in the following year. But the Lisbon Treaty was newly adopted in December 2007 after two years of reflection. This treaty is aimed to make the EU institution more efficient and strengthen the democratic system as well as boost its international influence. Ambassador Hugh Richardson, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Japan, with a Japanese scholar and a journalist, discussed through the Lisbon Treaty, the advantages and problems of the EU. About 80 people attended.

Ambassador Hugh Richardson, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Japan
The objectives of the Lisbon Treaty are to "give the EU better institutional and political basis" to meet new challenges. These improvements will result in better appreciation of democracy in the EU and greater transparency to its legislative process. The new treaty gives the EU new values through the solidarity clause that emphasizes energy security, social provisions concerning employment and social protection, and the chapter on basic rights that has legal binding force among others.* Its external policy will be strengthened as a result of the juristic personality provided for by the treaty and the creation of high representative for foreign and security policies. The new treaty will be ratified within one to one and a half years so that it will come into force in 2009, as scheduled.
*The UK and Poland have opted out.

Professor Kenji Hirashima of the University of Tokyo′s Institute of Social Science
The EU has developed a Europe-wide policy-making system encompassing member states′ own historical and traditional policy systems. In this sense, the EU maintains a dual structure. The Lisbon Treaty aims to realize a government closer to citizens by providing greater power to the European Parliament and by involving member states′ national parliaments in policy decisions. As a result, institutional mechanism for democracy has been improved considerably at the EU level. But at the member states′ national levels, problems have become quite conspicuous. For employment and social welfare policies, member states have the responsibility to their people, but in fact it is inevitable that their policies are influenced by the EU-level policies in various aspects. Government leaders of member states need to explain to their people so that they will accurately understand how the Lisbon Treaty will change the EU policy system, based on the reality of the EU′s dual structure.

Mr. Yasuhiko Ota, editorial writer, Nihon Keizai Shimbun
The Lisbon Treaty will increase its solidarity and external influence. While maintaining the dual governance structure, the community and national governments of the member states, the new treaty is designed skillfully so that a sense of unity will be gradually formed on the citizens′ level of consciousness as well.
As the United States′ influence declines, the EU values are greatly influencing Asia, and Japan as well. Particularly the "soft power" of the EU that creates international standards often outperforms the United States. The competition between the U.S. de fact standard system and the EU′s dejur standard system created by public institutions and accepted by industrial circles and the citizens has been intensifying throughout the world.

Moderator:

Akira Kojima, Chairman, Japan Economic Research Institute

Speakers:

Session 1
Adam Segal, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Gary Samore, Vice President and Director of Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Masashi Nishihara, President, Research Institute for Peace and Security

Session 2
Elizabeth Economy, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Brad Setser, Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Masahiro Kawai, Dean, Asia Development Bank Institute

The above symposium was held on November 12, in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations. In his keynote speech, Dr. Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Japan is an “underachiever” that needs to play a larger international role commensurate with its resources and capacity. In the following sessions, the researchers discussed the conditions for stability in Asia and the sustainability of economic growth in Asia.

Keynote Remark
Hiromasa Yonekura, Vice Chairman , Nippon Keidanren and President, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.

Session 1
"Political Issues for Building an East Asian Community"
Tsuyoshi Ito, Professor, Meiji University
Qin Yaqing, Vice President and Professor, China Foreign Affairs University
Takashi Shiraishi, Vice President and Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (moderator)

Session 2
"Economic Issues for Building an East Asian Community"
Fukunari Kimura, Professor, Keio University
Suthiphand Chirathivat, Chairman, Economics Research Center and Center for International Economics, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University
Shujiro Urata, Professor, Waseda University (moderator)

On September 28, the above symposium was held. Mr. Hiromasa Yonekura, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Committee on Promotion of Economic Partnerships of Nippon Keidanren delivered the keynote remark. He stressed the importance of negotiating and concluding comprehensive, high-quality EPAs with ASEAN and other strategically important countries, especially in East Asia.
 In the panel discussions, scholars from Japan, China and Thailand discussed the prospect of East Asia community building.
 It was noted that the competition between Japan and China has become obvious in regional issues and that "political will" will be key to the success of the regional process in East Asia. Regarding economic issues, it was noted that Japan must resolve the politically sensitive farm trade protection issue or risk being unable to make initiatives in the global effort for trade liberalization.

The above symposium was held on September 18. In a keynote speech, Mr. Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Nippon Keidanren said that the introduction of the "doshu-sei" system of reorganizing Japan into several regional blocs is the ultimate structural reform that will fundamentally change Japan's administrative, fiscal and political systems. Prof. Yoshitsugu Hayashi, a speaker of the symposium noted that the urban-rural gap is an urgent concern for Japan and what needs to be done is to make the rural areas more attractive based on private sector-driven economic activities. In the panel discussion, panelists discussed obstacles of decentralizing of administrative power.

The above lecture was held on June 12, with Professor Hirotaka Watanabe of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies serving as speaker. In the lecture, Professor Watanabe spoke about the background of Nikolas Sarkozy being elected as the new French President this May, policies of the new President, and how France will take the initiative in the EU. He also predicted that President Sarkozy, a conservative rationalist, would unveil policies from the perspective not of France alone, but rather, of the entire Europe. He forecasted, moreover, that France would take on an aggressive role as a leader in the EU, to erase its past of having the ratification of the EU constitution treaty rejected by a national referendum. A total of 47 people took part in the lecture.

On May 29, the above symposium was held to discuss the politics of corporate governance in the U.S. and Europe and the implications for Japan. Professor Culpepper noted that in Japan, different from the U.S., corporate managers influenced the lawmaking of corporate governance rules. Keidanren and the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry shifted the debate from a formal lawmaking forum to an informal working group. By comparing Japan, the U.S. and countries in Europe, he pointed out that in systems of low concentration, the politics of corporate control is about framing and forum control. A total of 85 people attended.

On May 21, the above symposium was held in cooperation with the Center for Northeast Asian Studies (CNAPS) of the Brookings Institution, a leading U.S. think tank. In the morning session, Mr. Hiromasa Yonekura, Vice Chairman of Nippon Keidanren and President of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. and Mr. Mitoji Yabunaka, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a keynote speech. In the panel session that followed, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and U.S. intellectuals discussed trade and investment issues in Asia and the future of economic integration in East Asia. In the afternoon sessions, panelists discussed the sustainability of the Chinese economy, foreign and trade policies of the U.S., and the upcoming U.S. presidential election in 2008. A total of 220 people attended the symposium.

On April 24, the above symposium was held to discuss the future of U.S. economic policy and U.S.-Japan relations. In his presentation, Mr. Katz explained that although there is exaggerated fear in Japan that the U.S. will go protectionist and although fair trade has clearly lost strong support in Congress and the public, he pointed out that Congress will not introduce restrictions that will significantly reduce the powerful momentum toward more exports and imports. He also pointed out that the largest trade deficit is now with China rather than Japan, as Japanese carmakers already produce much in the U.S. and economic interdependence is underway. A total of 124 people attended.

The above symposium was held on April 18. In the opening remarks, Mr. Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Nippon Keidanren said that climate change is a global issue that must be addressed on a worldwide basis. He also said that Japan can play a major role in the global effort by transferring its energy-saving technologies to developing economies and helping them cut greenhouse gas emissions. Panelists from the business sectors discussed Japan's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Ryuji Matsuhashi, professor of University Tokyo's Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.

On March 23, the above seminar was held, inviting Ke Long, senior research fellow of Fujitsu Research Institute, Tamako Watanabe, senior consultant of Fujitsu Research Institute and Yasuhiro Goto, Deputy Editor, International News Department of Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Both Ke and Watanabe indicated that "in order to embark on remarkably growing markets in China or India, Japanese firms need to establish highly effective research and development system at global level". Following their speeches, discussion including the question and answer session was held, presided over by Commentator, Goto. A total of 66 people attended.

Lawrence J. Lau, Vice Chancellor, Professor of economics, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

 On January 16, the above lecture was held at Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo, with Dr. Lawrence J. Lau, Vice Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, invited as the speaker. Dr. Lau commented on the current state of the rapidly growing Chinese economy, and, while pointing to its negative aspects, he said that China would aim to build a "harmonious society." He also suggested that, in the event that the control on the Chinese currency renminbi is completely freed, the Hong Kong dollar would probably shift away from its current link with the U.S. dollar to link with the RMB. He also pointed out that the Chinese economy and that of Hong Kong have been increasing their interdependency during the past decade although exports to mainland China from Hong Kong as well as Hong Kong's ratio to total foreign direct investments in China have been decreasing. He concluded that Hong Kong will be able to keep growing along with the Chinese economy and will survive as a hub in the fields of service, distribution, finance, education, and medical care, even though it has lost its manufacturing industry to mainland China. About 60 people attended.