Governors-General during Pacific Island constitutional crises and the role of the Crown

Links with the Crown are often thought to play a largely ‘symbolic’ role in the contemporary politics of the Pacific Islands. Yet the Queen appoints Governors-General for three Pacific Island states, albeit acting on advice, and did so in Fiji until that country became a Republic in October 1987. All four countries have witnessed constitutional crises in which the Governor-General has played a critical role. This paper examines those crises, and other occasions that have tested the link with the Crown. It argues that the common minimalist defence of such institutions (influenced by one reading of Walter Bagehot's well-known views) – i.e. that such arrangements tend to work better than republican or presidential alternatives by elevating a relatively disinterested arbiter to broker political transitions – misses the fact that realm territories have tended to face similar and comparable difficulties to those Pacific nations that abandoned the link with the British Crown at independence, and that these issues have been no better or no worse handled by Governors-General than by locally selected Heads of State.     

中日东海大陆架划界中的若干关键问题

中日两国并非共大陆架是中日东海大陆架划界应首先明确的问题。以此为基础,划界应适用并体现公平原则。"中间线"由日本单方面提出,并非习惯法规则,且不符合东海实际情况,故不应成为划分两国大陆架的界线;钓鱼岛等岛屿面积小、主权存在争议且位于两国中界,依照国际实践,不应具有划界效力。中日两国邻接东海的海岸线差异显著,因而"比例性"是公平划界应考虑的一个重要因素。     

The unfinished business of the Solomon Islands TRC: closing the implementation gap

In 2012, the Solomon Islands truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) submitted its Final Report to the Solomon Islands Government. The Report detailed the underlying and proximate causes of the conflict, provided a record of the injustices perpetrated during its course, and presented a set of recommendations designed both to address the underlying sources of tension in Solomon Islands society and to guard against future hostilities. In the time that has since elapsed, however, successive Solomon Islands Governments have failed to uphold their obligations to publish the report and implement its recommendations. This article examines the reasons for this implementation gap and considers its ingoing ramifications for transitional justice and reconciliation in the Solomon Islands. It argues that the implementation gap can be attributed to a fundamental lack of political will, provoked by the TRC's decision to ‘name names,’ combined with the extremely limited economic capacity of the state. What is more, it also demonstrates that the failure to implement key recommendations has meant that the underlying causes of the conflict remain without adequate redress and that the legitimacy of the TRC and the Solomon Islands’ broader reconciliation process has been brought into serious question.     

南太平洋岛国华侨华人的历史与现状初探

南太平洋群岛在中国统一战略、发展战略中占有重要的位置。自19世纪中叶开始便有华人定居在南太平洋群岛,形成小型华商中心。至今,华人足迹遍布南太平洋岛国,而且不断有新的华人移民涌入。本文从华人移民史、社会经济状况、华社、华文教育、政治参与等几个方面论述南太平洋岛国华侨华人的概况。     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ples Bilong Mere</Emphasis>*: Law,Gender and Peace-Building in Solomon Islands

This article discusses women and peace-building in Solomon Islands and the effect of law, theory and practical circumstances on their role. It looks at the place of Solomon Islands women in society historically, with particular reference to war and peace. It then analyses their current status from a legal perspective, looking at the existing Constitution, the proposed Federal Constitution, and relevant aspects of international law. It questions whether gender equity provisions are sufficient to promote participation at a practical level. The article also disputes the effectiveness of various international, regional, and local initiatives, designed to enhance the status of women. The article discusses the application of some of the theories relating to women and peace-building to the circumstances of Solomon Islands. It concludes by looking to the future and discussing means of consolidating women’s position, and increasing their involvement in leadership and decision-making.

Think territory politically: the making and escalation of Beijing’s commitment to Sovereignize Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands

In popular narratives, intellectual and media analysts believe the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute between China and Japan is a contestation for potential hydrocarbon reserves and other maritime rights which are per se divisible, but nationalism – particularly on China side – and relative power change between the two competing claimants make these territories increasingly indivisible and the dispute war-prone. Based on a review over People's Daily’s coverage of the disputes and other secondary information, this article reveals a different scenario by highlighting the political meanings of disputed territories for national cohesion and regime self-preservation. It finds, Beijing’s strategic moves in the disputes are influenced by its efforts at different occasions to de-legitimate Republic of China at Taiwan and defend its core interests – namely Taiwan and the "One-China" principle, to appease the patriotism in Hong Kong and facilitate the latter’s stable reversion to China in 1990s, and what is more, to rally popular support at home. In addition, Beijing’s Diaoyu/Senkaku strategy did not follow a carefully calculated path, but was mostly reactive to the contingencies and ultimately took shape through the incremental accumulation of previous policies and behaviours.     

中国拥有钓鱼岛主权的证据链构造

传统上,对于钓鱼岛主权归属问题,我国学界通常以历史证据和地图证据主张作为论证的逻辑起点,缺乏结合证据规则进行的论证。在论证钓鱼岛主权归属问题时,应当对证据主张的逻辑与证据链构造逻辑予以区分,并可借鉴国际法院适用的证据分量大小认定规则,确立“历史证据/相关条约”作为论证钓鱼岛归属中国的逻辑进路,辅之以其他层级关键证据,赋予其决定性分量,以构造出拥有钓鱼岛主权层级结构分明、环环相扣的完整证据链,历史证据与《开罗宣言》《波茨坦公告》等国际条约共同确证了钓鱼岛主权回归中国,构筑证明钓鱼岛主权属中国所有的总证据链的第一子证据链;中国对钓鱼岛进行有效管辖及其相关证据构成第二子证据链;中国、日本和第三方证明钓鱼岛主权归属中国的地图等证据,构成第三子证据链。     

Sino-Japanese Energy Security and Regional Stability: The Case of the East China Sea Gas Exploration

The Sino-Japanese dispute over the East China Sea maritime resources was triggered by the unsettled maritime boundary and the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. The dispute has been ascribed by many to intensified competition between China and Japan over energy supply. However this article attributes the fundamental cause of the conflict to power politics and political distrust, which are deemed to have the key role in preventing the two governments from finding a solution. The article analyses the origin and the causes responsible for the Sino-Japanese dispute over the East China Sea gas exploration, and then proceeds to investigate the diplomatic dialogues to reveal the key obstacles in the process.

Discursive Construction of territorial disputes: foreign newspaper reporting on the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute

Most studies of the news discourse surrounding territorial disputes focus on the domestic newspapers of the conflicting countries from the perspective of “us” and “them”. This study examines how the newspapers of foreign countries discursively construct a territorial dispute within the framework of an intergroup conflict schema. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of articles on the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute published online in five newspapers of record (the New York Times, the Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, Le Monde, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) reveals two main points: First, the articles published by these newspapers share a similar intergroup conflict schema that is based on competition and the pursuit of national interests as interpreted in conformance with the national interests of the respective countries (USA, UK, Australia, France, and Germany). Second, in terms of how news discourse is framed, there are noticeable differences between the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the other four which may reflect the influence of Germany’s socio-historical context on domestic public opinion.     

知识分子的窄门:刘大任“保钓三部曲”的思想流脉与文体特征初探

刘大任的“保钓三部曲”小说均以曾参与保钓运动的知识分子为主人公,融入大量自传性材料,注重对知识分子追寻道路与思想困境做社会历史分析,深度呈现知识分子介入革命实践的历史真相。这些作品在文体实践上采用多声部、多视角的叙事形态,是有感于保钓运动的意义陷落于当下历史视野中的危机,着意于还原历史真相,并隐含着对年轻世代的召唤结构。本文以这三部曲为分析文本,探究其思想轨迹及文体实践,致力于把握作品背后复杂的精神感受与思想脉动。