Culture in transition: Awareness and appropriate response to domestic violence among Hmong American college students

This explanatory study examined Hmong college students’ experience, awareness, and appropriate response to domestic violence in the Hmong community, using a survey (n?=?231) at one of the largest Hmong-serving institutions in the United States. Findings indicated that 32.8% of Hmong college women had some violence from their romantic partners and two thirds of Hmong college men and women were aware of violence in the Hmong community. Those young generation Hmong reported that the most appropriate method to solve conflicts within the Hmong community is through the traditional clan system. These results can be used to begin formulating research-based cultural competence education for providers in the criminal justice system and facilitate discussions on youth perceptions.     

Data protection in the Asia-Pacific region

The increasing reliance on technology as a means of conducting cross-border businesses has spurred on the development of data protection and privacy laws in many countries across the globe. In Asia, however, many countries today still have no or extremely limited data protection laws. Cultural attitudes towards the concept of autonomy and the well-established right of certain governments to monitor and scrutinise its people in certain countries have been partly to blame. However, in order to remain economically viable, the businesses and government of these countries must be able to provide protections which are at least similar to those afforded by the data protection laws of their business counterparts. This article examines the effectiveness and relevance of the APEC Privacy Framework and the state of the data protection laws in eight Asia-Pacific countries today.     

Asia–Pacific news

This column provides a country by country analysis of the latest legal developments, cases and issues relevant to the IT, media and telecommunications' industries in key jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific region. The articles appearing in this column are intended to serve as ‘alerts’ and are not submitted as detailed analyses of cases or legal developments.     

战后日本在亚太地区的战略选择

战后日本选择在亚太地区推行重振战略、大国战略和拓展战略,逐步减轻战后体制束缚,恢复亚太强国地位,进而掠夺发展空间。三步战略目标明确、实施有序,相互衔接、融为一体,帮助日本洗脱战争罪责,骗取国际信任,攫取发展资源。这其中饱含了日本政府的政治谋略,具有很强的隐蔽性和迷惑性。由于日本亚太战略始终偏离正确轨道,并且为转嫁政府执政危机服务,所以很难取得最终胜利。当前中日关系紧张微妙。不能对日本保守政府抱有太多幻想,以防落入圈套,可以尝试联合国际力量,强化战后制裁体制,防止日本重蹈覆辙。     

澳大利亚海洋安全战略研究

澳大利亚是亚太地区重要的中等国家,海洋安全战略是其国家安全战略的基石。随着国家实力的增强和亚太地区安全形势的变化——尤其是美国亚太再平衡战略的实施,澳大利亚加紧了海洋安全战略的调整,即不仅要维护其地缘政治和经济利益,而且要充当地区性海上领导力量,其海洋安全战略所涵盖的地理范围远远超过了澳大利亚本土,进攻性色彩日益浓厚。为达到这一战略目标,澳大利亚一方面建设强大海军,要成为海上强国;另一方面开展广泛的海上安全合作,加强与美国以及其他国家的海洋安全合作关系,以取得作战经验,扩大自己的国际影响,战略措施上也呈现出积极、主动的特点。尽管澳大利亚海洋安全战略的实施存在一些制约因素,如国家综合实力的有限以及对待中美的矛盾心态等,但澳大利亚海洋安全战略的进攻性特点以及与美国军事关系的加强无疑会对西太平洋地区的海洋安全形势产生一定的影响,这些影响主要体现在:加大了美国在西太平洋地区的海洋安全优势,增添了中国与澳大利亚关系中的不稳定因素,在某种程度上刺激了亚太地区的海军军备竞赛。正在建设海洋强国的中国应当对此给予适当的关注,并根据实际情况的变化制定出自己的对策。     

The Shifting Tides of Pacific Regionalism

Abstract

The current state of Pacific regionalism is faced with a range of external and internal factors that are acting to reshape the region and which call for a rethinking of Pacific regionalism. Within this context a range of new and in some cases reinvigorated groupings of political actors have emerged, seeking to influence and shape the region. Interpretations of this plurality of political groupings differ, with some authors seeing it as a direct challenge to the previously existing regional order, while others argue it signals a return to a foundational Pacific voice in regional politics. This article suggests that the present plurality is more than resituating a ‘Pacific voice’ and is not necessarily a challenge to the existing order. Rather, the Pacific’s experience mirrors global trends in the evolution of regionalism as a practice, in which network diplomacy or coalition-building across the plethora of actors will become a predominant feature of new regionalism. Further, the authors argue that the Framework for Pacific Regionalism provides the platform for effectively navigating this new context through facilitating the politics of networks and coalitions to drive the shared interests of the region, and presents a shared platform to test paradigm-shifting ideas.     

Australia,New Zealand and the Pacific Islands Forum: a critical review

The relationship between the Pacific islands and the region’s ‘bigger brothers’ – Australia and New Zealand – is often seen in two-dimensional terms with the latter appearing to act in concert and in terms characterised by underlying neo-colonial attitudes and a determination to dominate the regional agenda. Given that both are former colonial powers with considerable political and economic resources and are the major aid donors in the region as well as being members of the powerful geopolitical entity known as ‘the West’, it is not difficult to sustain an image of neo-colonial dominance. But to do so also requires casting Pacific island countries in a certain role, not only lacking agency but also cohering around a common identity and set of interests. This article examines key aspects of regional relations as played out through the region’s premier organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum, and assesses the extent to which a simple political divide between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand, and the island states on the other, can be maintained.     

Ethnicity,Language Capacity,and Perception of Ethnic-Specific Services Agencies in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities

Abstract

This study examined (1) the ethnicity and language similarity between professional staff and service users, and (2) client satisfaction in ethnic-specific services (ESS) agencies serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). A combined method of agency survey and focus groups was used to collect the data. Findings indicate that ESS served a diverse AAPI population, although some ethnic and language sub-groups remain to be under served. Service users clearly prefer ESS, which is associated with a higher level of trust than mainstream services. However, staff simply sharing similar language or ethnic background does not automatically warrant trust. Trust is developed through a sense of respect that staff demonstrates within a cultural context. The feeling of trust is likely to determine AAPI clients' commitment to remain in treatment, a prior condition for achieving any desirable outcome.     

Ideas,identity, and institution‐building: From the ‘ASEAN way’ to the ‘Asia‐Pacific way'?

Abstract

This article examines the extent to which the development of multilateral institutions in the Asia‐Pacific region may be viewed as an exercise in identity‐building. It argues that institution‐building in this region is more of a ‘process‐orientated’ phenomenon, rather than simply being an outcome of structural changes in the international system (such as the decline of American hegemony). The process combines universal principles of multilateralism with some of the relatively distinct modes of socialization prevailing in the region. Crucial to the process have been the adaptation of four ideas: ‘cooperative security’, ‘open regionalism’, ‘soft regionalism’, and ‘flexible consensus’. The construction of a regional identity, which may be termed the ‘Asia‐Pacific Way’ has also been facilitated by the avoidance of institutional grand designs and the adoption of a consensual and cautious approach extrapolated from the ‘ASEAN Way’. The final section of the article examines the limitations and dangers of the Asia‐Pacific Way. It concludes with the assertion that while the Asia‐Pacific Way is an over‐generalised, instrumental, and pragmatic approach to regional cooperation, and there remain significant barriers to the development of a collective regional identity that is constitutive of the interests of the actors, it has helped introduce the concept and practice of multilateralism into a previously sceptical region and might have ‘bought’ enough time and space for regional actors to adapt to the demands of multilateralism.     

Attempts at diversification: Mexico and Pacific Asia

This article aims to explain the development of Mexico's relations with Pacific Asia. Based on the historical background of Mexico's relations with Asia and on internal and international transformations, we identify the interests of Mexican political actors in Pacific Asia. We provide an overview of the existing political and economic relations between Mexico and Pacific Asia, demonstrating that the success of diversification has been very limited. By trying to explain the gap between the strategic goals and the existing relations we focus on the domestic politics in Mexico. We conclude that intra-elite conflicts had a negative effect on the diversification attempts, since those conflicts prevented Mexican policy-makers from establishing the institutional basis for successfully implementing their foreign policy goals.