LEAM 2015
In June 2015 the 11th annual Lodz East Asia Meeting took place. This year, the fundamental theme of the conference was the dynamics of regional and global development of East Asia. Professor Dominik Mierzejewski opened the conference with a lecture on the development of Asian studies at the University of Lodz. In the second morning session, there were three parallel panels devoted to the issues of unification on the Korean Peninsula, cooperation between Europe and East Asia and internal affairs in the Taiwan Strait.
The keynote speech was delivered Professor Glenn Hook from the University of Sheffield, in which he discussed local and regional strategies in Japan’s foreign policy. After the keynote, participants took part in a special panel devoted to the dynamics of the decision-making process in Japan’s foreign policy. The panel was organized by Dr Charles Żakowski, Dr Beata Bochorodycz and Dr Marcin Socha – all experts in their field.
The first day of the conference rounded off with a banquet in Biedermann Palace, during which the local Aikido practitioners, with one of Asian Studies students being one of them, offered a demonstration of their abilities.
The conference panels on the second day of the conference were predominantly devoted to regional issues in East Asia, though naturally the wider Asia region was also present throughout. The panels related to the internal and international policies in East Asia. The conference was concluded by a special panel regarding the theory and practice of paradiplomacy in Poland and China, which was organized jointly with the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). In addition to the DEAS employees, the panel consisted of Adam Bralczyk (MFA) and Adrian Skorupska (PISM).