Asia Pacific in 2014

A veteran Taiwan defense strategist, Mr. Yang served as Minister and Deputy Minister of National Defense from 2009 to 2013. Prior to this he taught at National Sun Yatsen University and worked at research centers there and in Taipei. Prior to his appointment as deputy minister of defense, Mr. Yang served as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council, and the Ministry of National Defense. An influential thinker, Mr. Yang was educated at Fu-jen University and at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Prof. Katada teaches international relations at USC. She is the author of Banking on Stability: Japan and the Cross-Pacific Dynamics of International Financial Crisis Management which was recognized with the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Book Award in 2002. She also co-edited three books: Global Governance: Germany and Japan in International System (2004), Cross Regional Trade Agreements: Understanding Permeated Regionalism in East Asia (2008), and Competitive Regionalism: FTA Diffusion in the Pacific Rim (2009) and has published many articles on regional integration, foreign aid policy, financial politics and free trade agreements.

Prof. Solingen holds the Thomas T. and Elizabeth C. Tierney Chair in Peace Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She has previously been a Chancellor's Professor and is the immediate past president of the International Studies Association. The author of numerous works, her Nuclear Logics: Contrasting Paths in East Asia and the Middle East received the APSA's Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for best book and the APSA's Robert Jervis and Paul Schroeder Award. Other works include Regional Orders at Century's Dawn: Global and Domestic Influences on Grand Strategy.

Prof. Rosen has taught political science at USC since 1979. He's headed the East Asian Studies Center and is a member of the US-China Institute's executive committee. His courses range from Chinese politics and Chinese film to socio-political change in East Asian societies. He's published numerous books and articles, including Chinese Politics: State, Society and the Market (co-edited with Peter Hays Gries) and Art, Politics and Commerce in Chinese Cinema (co-edited with Ying Zhu). Other works look the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese legal system, public opinion, youth, gender, and human rights. He is co-editor of Chinese Education and Society.

Prof. Wang teaches political science and serves as associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Richmond. A prolific researcher, Prof. Wang has written journal articles and book chapters on topics including Taiwan's domestic politics, its ties with China, regional associations and international organizations, globalization and economic development, industrial policy, security issues, and soft power. He's also written on U.S. political affairs. His work has appeared in journals such as Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Asian Affairs, Asian Perspective, Journal of National Development Studies, American Journal of Chinese Studies, Tamkang Journal of International Affairs, Journal of International Security Affairs, in think tank publications, and in popular U.S. and Asian periodicals.