Twelfth Class of Visiting Fellows Joins the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings

Brookings President Strobe Talbott announced today the arrival of three new visiting fellows at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings (CNAPS). This year’s CNAPS Fellows include scholars from China, Japan and South Korea who will be in residence at Brookings until December 18. The CNAPS Fellowship program is now in its twelfth year.

“I am delighted to welcome the impressive incoming class of CNAPS fellows,” Talbott said. “Each is a leader within the academic communities of Northeast Asia. Through their fellowship research projects, they will each contribute significantly to our knowledge about the region and will strengthen CNAPS’s reputation for excellence in Washington and Asia.”

CNAPS has substantially restructured the visiting fellows program, and this year’s class of CNAPS fellows is the first to participate in the program’s new format. Beginning in August 2009, it will host two separate classes of fellows per academic year. The fall class will be in residence at Brookings from August 17 to December 18, 2009, and will include one fellow each from China, Japan and South Korea.

Shoichi Itoh is an associate senior researcher at the Economic Research Institute of Northeast Asia (ERINA). He is a specialist on Northeast Asian energy and environmental security. Mr. Itoh’s research project during his fellowship is “The U.S.-Japan Alliance and China’s Engagement on Energy Security: New Challenges and Opportunities.”

Seongho Sheen is an expert on Northeast Asian security, particularly of security issues on the Korean peninsula. He is an assistant professor and director of the International Cooperation Office at Seoul National University. At CNAPS, Dr. Sheen’s research project will be titled “Energy Security and Multilateral Cooperation in Northeast Asia: Addressing North Korea’s Energy Demand.”

Jian Zhang is a senior research economist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a POSCO Fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu. Her specialty is in international and monetary economics. Dr. Zhang’s research at CNAPS will focus on “China’s Energy Security Policy and Its Global Implications.”

The spring session is scheduled for March 1 through June 30, 2010, and will include one fellow each from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam. The scholars will focus on energy security.

Established in 1998, CNAPS promotes research, analysis and exchange and is designed to enhance policy development and understanding on the pressing political, security and economic issues facing Northeast Asia. The Visiting Fellows Program, the Center’s flagship initiative, offers mid-career fellowships that bring up to eight fellows each year from Northeast Asia to Brookings to conduct research and interact with the U.S. policymaking and academic communities. Under the direction of Brookings Senior Fellow Richard Bush, CNAPS also sponsors an array of policy-oriented seminars, discussions, and publications, including the Brookings Northeast Asia Commentary.