GLOBAL SNAPSHOTS
Issues Transcending Regional Boundaries:
Pan-Asia
Content
 10 Things Students Should
Know About: Pan-Asia
 Global Issues:
o Conflict and
Resolution
o Environment and
Sustainability
o Food Security
 Other Useful Resources
April 2016
A key to this map is located on the back page of this packet.
Comprising one third of the earth’s land mass and two-thirds of the world’s population, Asia is a vast, incredibly rich,
and infinitely diverse region. From Turkey in the west to Polynesia in the east, the region provides an amazing array of
opportunities to explore a variety of academic disciplines.
The pan-Asian region can be subdivided into six regional groupings bound together by geographic location, shared
histories, and similarities in cultures:
West Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
East Asia: China, Korea-DPRK (North), Korea-RK (South), Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan.
Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the island nations of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
[email protected]
www.iub.edu/~panasia
10 THINGS STUDENTS SHOULD LEARN ABOUT:
Pan-Asia
1. With nearly 4.3 billion inhabitants, pan-Asia represents more than 60 percent of
the world’s population.
2. China and India are roughly a third of the world's population: a total of 2.5 billion
people inhabit the two countries.
3. Nine out of ten largest urban areas in the world are in the Asia-Pacific region.
4. The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world’s two largest land-locked countries –
Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
5. Among IMF’s rankings of the top 10 richest countries measured by GDP per capita
in 2012, five are in Asia: Qatar, Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong and United Arab
Emirates.
6. Nine out of the top ten tallest buildings can be found in pan-Asia: unsurprisingly,
Asia has the most skyscrapers in the world.
7. Some of the world’s oldest, continuous civilizations can be found in the pan-Asian
region – from Iraq to India to China.
8. Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most spoken language with over a billion native
speakers.
9. Six of the world’s seven longest rivers – the Yangtze, Yenisei, Yellow River, ObIrtysh, Amur-Argun, and the Mekong – are found in pan-Asia.
10.Asia boasts both the highest (Mount Everest at 8,848m) and the lowest (Dead Sea
at -414 m) points on Earth.
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Conflict and Resolution
Conflict in Pan-Asia
Description: Pan Asia has many conflict-affected and
fragile regions, including, for example, Afghanistan,
Mindanao (Philippines), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Aceh (Indonesia), Southern Thailand, and TimorLeste. In 2013, according to Uppsala Conflict Data
Program, 11 countries in the pan-Asian region were
embroiled in armed conflict, from interstate disputes
such as the Pakistan-India conflict over Kashmir to
internal conflicts such as in Syria and Thailand. One
particular thorny issue in the region is the South
China Sea disputes.
The risk of conflict in the South China Sea is increasingly significant. Maritime
boundaries and islands in the South China Sea have been a source of contention for
many years. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines stake
competing territorial and jurisdictional claims, particularly over rights to exploit the
region's fishing areas, and potentially extensive reserves of oil and gas. Freedom of
navigation in the region is also a contentious issue, especially between the United States
and China. There have been talks of the code of conduct in the region since 2002, yet no
agreement has been reached.
Related Resources:
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Uppsala Conflict Data Program-Armed Conflict Dataset:
http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/ucdp/datasets/ucdp_prio_armed_conflict_dataset/
Themnér, Lotta & Peter Wallensteen (2014) Armed Conflict, 1946-2013. Journal of Peace
Research 51(4)
The Council on Foreign Relations. Armed Clash in the South China Sea:
http://www.cfr.org/world/armed-clash-south-china-sea/p27883
Maritime claims in the South China Sea graph is drawn from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_China_Sea_vector.svg
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Conflict and Resolution
Education for Peace and Non-Violence in Pan-Asia
Description: Recognizing that education can provide an important path to promoting
understanding and thereby reducing conflict, many nations of the pan-Asian region are
seeking to incorporate peace education into their national curricula. The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) advances such efforts by
providing support to member states to integrate a holistic vision of education that
promotes the values of a culture of peace at all levels of their education systems.
UNESCO support includes such items as the co-production of textbooks by two or more
countries to promote mutual understanding; the development of learning materials that
are culturally and linguistically appropriate; providing support to develop bilateral or
multi-lateral revisions of curricula and textbooks with the goal of removing prejudices or
stereotypes; and, promoting teacher training and educational programs in peace and
human rights education. One recent development in East Asia is joint history textbook
development. For instance, the Northeast History Foundation based in Seoul, South
Korea has promoted joint history textbook development in order to facilitate historical
reconciliation in East Asia. China, Japan and Korea have struggled to come to terms with
a shared understanding of troubled modern history. Since its advent in 2002, the
Foundation published A History Opening the Future in the three countries
simultaneously in 2005. It is the first collaboration on trilateral level as is often called
the first “Common History” of Northeast Asia. The Foundation’s latest endeavors focus
on international relations history and the social history of modern and contemporary
East Asia.
Related Resources:
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UNESCO (2008). UNESCO’S Work on Education for Peace and Non-Violence: Building Peace through
Education. Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001607/160787e.pdf
Peace Education - The Development of Peace Education and Its Basic Principles - Conflict,
Individual, World, and Society - StateUniversity.com
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2314/Peace-Education.html#ixzz1uBdx9iLY
 The Korea-China-Japan Joint History Textbook Publication Project
https://www.nahf.or.kr/?sidx=248&stype=2
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Environment and Sustainability
Environment and Sustainability in Pan-Asia
Description: Huge populations, underdeveloped economies, physical geography, limited
resources, and climate change all combine to pose tremendous challenges for the
peoples of the pan-Asian region and their environment. Rapid economic growth in
countries such as India and China has led to serious
environmental degradation which has implications
both for the sustainability of that growth over the
long term and the health and wellbeing of their
populations in the future. Limited resources in such
critical areas as energy lead to cross-border
disputes and conflicts when shared resources, such
as rivers, are monopolized for use by one or more
countries (as in the case of the hydroelectric
damming of the Mekong River). The Center for Global Developments predicts that of the
twenty countries projected to have the largest number of vulnerable citizens at risk
from rising sea-levels by 2050, twelve are located in the pan-Asian region (as reflected in
the above map). The Washington Post reports research findings in an article from
Nature that, seven out of the top ten cities predicted to face the most damage as a
percentage of their overall GDP by 2050 are in pan-Asia. How will the countries of the
pan-Asian region seek to balance economic development with environmental
sustainability? What will happen to the sovereign rights of island nations such as the
Maldives should the direst predictions of rising sea-levels attain? How will relations
among the countries of Asia, and between the region and the global economy, be
effected by increased and fierce competition for dwindling natural resources? How does
a shift to a “green growth” paradigm work in pan-Asia?
Related Resources:
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“These 20 Cities Have the Most to Lose from Rising Sea Levels,” The Washington Post, August 20,
2013 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/20/these-20-cities-have-themost-to-lose-from-rising-sea-levels/
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Environment and Sustainability
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Wheeler, David. “Quantifying Vulnerability to Climate Change: Implications for Adaptation
Assistance”. Working Paper 240. January 2011. Washington, DC: Center for Global Developments
http://www.cgdev.org/files/1424759_file_Wheeler_Quantifying_Vulnerability_FINAL.pdf
Education for Sustainable Development
Description: Agenda 21, the official document of the 1992 Earth Summit, identified
many paths to sustainability – from technology transfer to sustainable agriculture,
forestry, and production techniques. Key among these is the emphasis on education for
sustainable development. While not a singular prescription for ensuring a more
sustainable future, education is seen as an essential foundation for all other efforts
aimed at promoting sustainability. The years 2005-2014 have been designated as the
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Member
countries and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) seek to mobilize world educational resources to help promote a more
sustainable future. Launched in Nagoya, Japan, in June 2005, the Asia-Pacific regional
DESD implementation strategy was built on the results of a situational analysis of
education for sustainable development within the region. Participating countries are
developing clear thematic national priorities while building the necessary governmental
and financial infrastructure needed to implement and maintain education for
sustainable development initiatives.
Related Resources:
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UNESCO (2009). ESD currents: changing perspectives from the Asia-Pacific region. Bangkok:
UNESCO Bangkok. Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001811/181159e.pdf
UNESCO (2008). ESD on the move: national and sub-regional ESD initiatives in the Asia-Pacific
Region. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok. Available at:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001621/162152e.pdf
UNESCO (2005). Asia-Pacific DESD Regional Strategy. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok. Available at:
http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esd/documents/esd_publications/workingpaper.pdf
UNESCO (2005). A Situational Analysis of Education for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific
Region. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok. http://www.unescobkk.org/education/esd/un-decade-ofesd/a-situational-analysis-of-esd-in-the-asia-pacific-region/
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Environment and Sustainability
Food Security in Pan-Asia
Description: “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs
and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” – Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations.
The World Food Programme reports
in 2014, about two-thirds of the
world’s hungry – around 578 million
people – can be found in the Asia and
the Pacific region. Overpopulation
(China and India), failed governance
(Syria), scarce resources (Yemen), and
structural issues in the global trade
regime (Fiji) combine to impact the
ability of countries within pan-Asia to
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand. Copyright:
meet food security needs. How
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Milei.vencel
countries in the region meet these
needs has significant implications not only for the health and well-being of their citizens,
but for the stability of both regional and global relations in the future.
Related Resources:
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Food Security Statistics. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-fs/en/
Hunger Map 2014. World Food Programme.
http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp268726.pdf
Prevalence of Undernourishment (% of Population), 2010-2014. The World Bank.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SN.ITK.DEFC.ZS
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Other Useful Resources
IU Centers and Programs Involved with the Study of Pan-Asia
 The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute:
o http://www.iub.edu/~panasia/
 East Asian Studies Center (EASC):
o http://www.iu.edu/~easc/
 Indiana University Chinese Flagship Center:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~flagship/
 Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business (RCCPB):
o http://www.indiana.edu/~rccpb/
 Center for the Study of the Middle East:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~csme/
 Center for Languages of the Central Asian Regions (CelCAR):
o http://iub.edu/~celcar/main.php
 Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~iaunrc/
 Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~srifias/
 Dhar India Studies Program:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~isp/
 Islamic Studies Program:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~islmprog/
 Borns Jewish Studies Program:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~jsp/index.shtml
 Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies
o http://seas.indiana.edu/
 Center for the Study of Global Change:
o http://www.indiana.edu/~global/
 Institute for International Business:
o http://kelley.iu.edu/ciber/
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
Pan-Asia at a Glance
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia
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The ANU-IU Pan Asia Institute
www.iub.edu/~panasia