Chez Gray (Taken with instagram)

One tree I shall be sad not to see in bloom again next spring

Research urges better ways to engage Kiwi expats in Asia

A consistent government policy of steady engagement with New Zealand expatriates is crucial in building momentum for “Brand New Zealand” in a region like Asia, with which New Zealand’s future prosperity is inextricably linked, says the latest Asia:NZ Outlook report. Outlook 15 was launched in Wellington to an invited audience of academics, government officials, and Asia:NZ trustees and young leaders. Jenny McGregor, Group CEO of Asialink and Executive Director of the Asia Education Foundation in Australia, attended the launch during her weeklong visit to New Zealand as a guest of Asia:NZ. Entitled Engaging Asia: the role of the diaspora, the report says that a cohesive and engaged diaspora – or a group of expatriates with loyal and frequent connections to the homeland – would serve as a strong asset to advance New Zealand’s interests in Asian countries and further its multilateral cooperation efforts in the Asia-Pacific.

In a globalised world where people and ideas move freely, governments are recognising the role influential expatriate networks can play in furthering national interests and international cooperation. But diasporas are often entities in flux, argues Dr Alan Gamlen, author of the report and a worldwide authority on diaspora research who has consulted for several governments and international organisations. Therefore a strong cohesive approach is necessary to ensure ongoing expatriate loyalty. Leaders and policymakers are becoming more attuned to the need to keep diasporas active through appropriate strategic policies. “Engaging the diaspora is a way of seizing its opportunities,” said Dr Gamlen. Ongoing loyalty and involvement among offshore networks will encourage them to invest back home, share their expertise and use their influence abroad to open new markets and lean favourably on domestic decision-makers when the home country interests are at stake. New Zealand has had some progress in generating positive engagement with its diaspora communities in Asia, notably through efforts by our diplomatic missions and government agencies or partners like NZTE and Kea New Zealand to galvanise networks on an informal, social and more formal, professional level. With over 2,000 members across Asia and representations in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and China (Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong), Kea New Zealand has been actively building on the skills and connections of offshore Kiwi networks in Asia. NZTE’s flagship New Zealand Central location in Shanghai was a valuable hub of activity during the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and continues to offer a platform for business networking. However, more needs to be done to harness expatriate energy in promoting "NZ Inc" in Asia, argues the report. New Zealand’s diasporas are noticeably better represented in Australia, the UK, Ireland and North America. But a move away from “the Anglo-world” may happen in the near future – economic and professional opportunities in Asia, consistent with the region’s rising pre-eminence on the global stage, are making Asia an ever more attractive destination for young New Zealand professionals. If it wishes to position New Zealand to make the most of its proximity to the world’s emerging global powers, the government could improve official arrangements to facilitate greater mobility to Asia for Kiwis. Once there, expatriates need to remain connected to New Zealand through regular contact and opportunities to share their skills and expertise. While New Zealand has numerous economic and political avenues for integration with Asia – it participates through formal arrangements in APEC, the East Asia Summit, ASEAN and its Regional Forum, and has various levels of formal trade partnerships with Asian countries – improving the social regulation surrounding mobility needs to be given more consideration, the Outlook report recommends. Streamlined visa agreements, taxation, pension and healthcare provisions for emigrants will not only increase freedom of movement but provide necessary stimulus for Kiwi expatriates to remain engaged and make contributions to the home country. In other words, foreign and domestic policies are not as fundamentally distinct as they are often seen to be, says Dr Gamlen. Sometimes, “foreign policy instruments [need to be seen] as tools for implementing domestic policies beyond New Zealand’s borders.” “Widening New Zealanders’ horizons in Asia widens New Zealand’s horizons in the region. Such an approach could help New Zealand to branch out beyond the “Anglo-world”, and engage more meaningfully with Asia,” concludes the report. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in February 2011. Image credit: Asia:NZ.

Photo exhibition tells stories of personal journeys

Once Upon a Time in Asia, an exhibition of photos from across Asia, was launched by Asia:NZ young leaders at the Young Leaders Network Forum in Wellington in November 2010. More than 50 photos in the free public exhibition tell the stories of the young leaders themselves – their physical travel as well as their mind journeys to Asia and back. It’s a chance to put on display the ways in which Asia is shaping these young people’s futures, identities and career paths.

With just a week to arrange and install the photos, develop a publicity plan and organise a launch evening – all this while attending a host of forum presentations and workshops in the daytime – the teams worked well into the night.

The energy and drive of these young people are palpable – they are keen to give their best and harness their individual skills for the success of the group project. The opportunity to promote cross-cultural understanding of Asia is a strong motivator. The photos in the exhibition were taken in countries as diverse as China, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam, Mongolia and India. But this is not just a chance to put on show the sights and customs of Asia. More than 50 photos in the free public exhibition tell the stories of the young leaders themselves – their physical travel as well as their mind journeys to Asia and back. It’s a chance to put on display the ways in which Asia is shaping these young people’s futures, identities and career paths. There are personal benefits to be gained, too. “While racing against the clock, we are honing our leadership and networking skills,” says Bevan Chuang, who heads the curating team. All venue preparation and photo installation were also handled by the young leaders. They split into three groups, handling the marketing, curating and event launch. The marketing team was in charge of coming up with creative ideas and resourceful ways of promoting the event to the media and the public. “Our biggest challenge from day 1 has been to implement a high quality marketing strategy on an extremely tight time schedule,” says Christiana Zhu from the creative team.  “However, we’ve been able to overcome various obstacles by thinking laterally and adapting to the constraints we’ve faced.” Individual photo journeys are organised in three spaces. ‘Feeling at Home’ illustrates places in Asia which were close to the young leaders’ hearts despite the distance from their real homes. ‘A Stranger in a Strange Country’ explores the ways in which one’s familiar environment can feel unfamiliar to others or even to the returning travellers themselves. Finally, ‘I’m Home, Who Am I Now?’ includes photos through which the young leaders have tried to reflect on how their travels in Asia have shaped a new, different outlook on life. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in November 2010. Photo credit: Asia:NZ.

New Zealanders friendly and favourable towards Asia

Economic prosperity is overwhelmingly linked to Asia in the minds of New Zealanders - 91 percent of them agreed that exports from New Zealand to Asia will have a positive impact on this country, says our latest study of New Zealand public opinion towards the peoples and countries of Asia. The Perceptions of Asia study shows that cultural contributions from the diverse Asian ethnic groups are strongly valued as well.  The Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival, or Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, often sprang to mind. In 2010, a series of questions were included in the survey to understand the influence of representations of Asia by the media.

Presenting the findings of the Asia:NZ Perceptions of Asia Tracking Study 2011 to a public symposium on China's rise in April, Asia:NZ executive director Dr Richard Grant said that compared to the US and fellow Commonwealth countries, New Zealanders displayed the warmest attitudes to China. A predominant number of respondents recognise the importance of Asia to New Zealand's future, even though the recent recession and economic hardship have led, somewhat disappointingly, to them attributing a lesser importance to the outer world as a whole.     Download a copy (PDF) of the latest Perceptions survey Carried out annually by Colmar Brunton, the Perceptions of Asia tracking study takes the temperature of New Zealanders' public opinion towards the peoples and countries of Asia. One of the survey’s most important aims is to research what New Zealanders value in their relationships with different Asian groups. It also identifies the barriers to strengthening New Zealanders' relationships with the peoples and countries of Asia. Photo: Crowds enjoy a Lion Dance at the 2010 Auckland Lantern Festival In 2010, a series of questions were included in the survey to understand the influence of representations of Asia by the media. Topical at the time of the survey, India's initial unreadiness to host the Commonwealth Games is likely to have influenced some of the results; so have the noticeable interest from Chinese investors in acquiring dairy farms or the trial in Japan of a Kiwi anti-whaling activist. However, economic prosperity is overwhelmingly linked to Asia in the minds of New Zealanders - 91 percent of them agreed that exports from New Zealand to Asia will have a positive impact on this country. Arguably, China remains the country most likely to influence the course of this economic prosperity (particularly in light of the existing New Zealand-China free trade agreement). New Zealanders' favourable attitudes towards China are measured by a warmth score of 68 - noticeably higher than Australians' perceptions (a warmth score of 53), measured by a similar annual Lowy Institute poll, or those in the US or Canada, where roughly half of the population is favourable towards China (polls conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, respectively). Cultural contributions from the diverse Asian ethnic groups are strongly valued as well; Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival, or Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, often sprang to mind. “In general, New Zealanders are positive about the contribution that Asian people make (84 percent), with 75 percent believing that Asian immigrants bring a valuable cultural diversity to New Zealand,” Asia:NZ research director Dr Andrew Butcher says. Contact through friends, at work or in business, and through schools or educational institutions is most likely to promote closer relationships and the potential for improved cross-cultural understanding, concludes the report. The Perceptions of Asia survey is an up-to-date snapshot of opinions and attitudes on New Zealand’s relationship with Asia, the importance of Asia to New Zealand’s future, and public perceptions regarding Asian people and their contributions to New Zealand. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in April 2011. Photo: Auckland Lantern Festival, Asia:NZ.

Interview with Jenny McGregor, CEO Asialink - Melbourne

Jenny McGregor is Group CEO of Asialink and the Asia Education Foundation (AEF). Under her leadership, Asialink has become Australia's largest non-government centre for the promotion of Australia-Asia relations with activities spanning education, the arts, leadership, health, and corporate and public programmes. Ms McGregor was in New Zealand in February 2011 as a guest of Asia:NZ. She had meetings with the Minister of Education Anne Tolley and the Secretary for Education Karen Sewell, and attended the launch of our latest Outlook 15 report on engaging the New Zealand diaspora in Asia. She gave a presentation on Australia’s relationship with Asia at the Connecting with Asia Business Leaders lunch hosted by Deloitte in Wellington and also attended the opening night of the Auckland Lantern Festival on 18 February. We are grateful to Ms McGregor for taking some time out of her busy schedule to give us this interview.

Dr Richard Grant, Asia:NZ executive director, and Jenny McGregor, CEO of Asialink.

In 2010, Asialink celebrated the 20th anniversary of its inception. Much has been achieved in improving the public understanding of Asia in Australia. Aside from the usual means of opinion polls, Ms McGregor gave the school system as an example of evaluating how Asialink has contributed to the growth in public understanding of Asia in Australia. “Research shows that we are active in 50 percent of Australian schools,” Ms McGregor said, “which – in light of the resources we’ve had to devote to this big challenge of changing an education system –  is a satisfactory result, but also a strong motivating factor in doing more to reach the remaining 50 percent. We feel passionate about our efforts in that sphere, and it is still a challenge to ensure all Australian students have the opportunity to learn about the Asian region and to be prepared for a future that will enable them to work in Asia or collaborate with Asian counterparts in various sectors.” Photo: Ms Jenny McGregor met with Education Minister Hon Anne Tolley in Wellington. Asialink’s Asia Education Foundation runs a programme that spans from policy work with government right through to training of teachers and working in schools. “It’s a comprehensive strategy,” explains Ms McGregor, “and one of the things we have found to be very important is getting teachers, policymakers and educators in general into Asia – be it to a major conference like Linking Lattitudes or on study tours. Gaining in-country experience immediately opens people’s eyes. In Asia they can witness firsthand the cultural richness and dynamism of the region, which we need to be preparing our students to make the best of.” In addition to education, you personally and Asialink as a whole have been very active in Track II unofficial diplomacy as well – tell us more about your work in this area. “Track II is important for our countries. From an Australian, and no doubt New Zealand, perspective, our challenge is to be seen as part of the Asian region, so we have to work hard to make sure we are there at the right meetings. At Asia:NZ you have done an excellent job of hooking into Track II dialogues in a comprehensive way. At Asialink, while we have proportionately done less of that, we have made progress in creating Track II dialogues in collaboration with ASEAN. “We’re focused hard on ASEAN with the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand dialogue and with the Asialink Conversations (a regular dialogue hosted either by Australia or by one of the ten ASEAN countries since 2002). “We are aware of the global importance of China and India. But ASEAN is also a very important close partner for Australia. As a country, we need to make a place for ourselves at the table, get some attention and focus, and that’s hard to do on our own. We want to work in collaboration with ASEAN, because when we go to India, for example, with a partner like ASEAN, and we’re working together with New Zealand as well, we get a lot of attention. On our own, obviously, we would get less – so Track II is really important for us. Track II initiatives support and enrich the environment in which national foreign policy priorities are set and decisions are made. Would you comment on that? “Track II is very significant in this way, particularly in times like these when soft power is being increasingly recognised as an important tool for a country. We have a different quality of dialogue. In Track I dialogues, there are many constraints on what can be said because of the thorough, direct link with government policy: sensitive issues need to be discussed with the government line in view. Whereas in Track II we can have a much more frank and open discussion; we can often get feedback from our counterparts, especially in ASEAN, which would not be given at a Track I level.” An interesting recent example Ms McGregor gave of the importance of Track II in channelling feedback to the government level was linked to the now-defunct idea of an Asia-Pacific community, put forward by the previous Australian prime minister, now foreign minister Kevin Rudd. Whereas ASEAN partners were not very supportive of the plan, the real feedback was only expressed at the Track II dialogue in Kuala Lumpur weeks after the formal meetings in Sydney. Asialink was thus able to channel the rationale behind this stance back to government policymakers . “This sort of input is now increasingly valued by Track one people,” said Ms McGregor. In another first, Asialink has just confirmed Burma as the location for the 2011 Conversations. This will be incredibly valuable since a formal government dialogue is difficult to set up in the current political climate. “The dialogue in Burma will present particular challenges, but we are hopeful that we can play a role in opening up areas where it has been difficult for government to have an influence.” The choice of location, although not influenced by recent developments in Burma – general elections in November 2010 followed by the release of opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi after 15 years of house arrest, and much talk of democratic reform, – will likely add an interesting dimension to the political climate surrounding the discussions. Trying approaches that may not always deliver instant success is another aspect of international relations where Track II dialogues fill in a crucial gap, Ms McGregor believes. “We want to contribute to countries in need and have a breakthrough in difficult contexts.” The Conversations help get issues on the table that can then be revisited quickly in the AANZ dialogue platform that regularly follows. “We need to keep the relationships moving and need to be in Asia more often. Progress is made in small, but important steps.” You have just taken part in the roundtable discussion on diasporas that accompanied the launch of our latest Outlook report, Engaging Asia: The role of the diaspora. Can you tell us what aspects of working with the diaspora have worked for Asialink and Australia as a whole? Is there some common knowledge we can share, both on an organisational and national level? “The diaspora for us has been an extraordinary resource. First of all, we define the concept very broadly, including in it Australian expatriates who have studied or worked abroad, or Asian returned students, whether they have studied extensively or for a short term in Australia. We try to capture all of those groups when we think about diaspora engagement. What I think has worked best is when organisations have grown thanks to dynamic members of the diaspora who are in-country at the moment. One of our best examples is an organisation which has grown in China, led by a young Australian based in Beijing for 20 years now, who is really passionate and has done an extremely good job of creating a dynamic network of large numbers of Australians and Chinese with Australian links. “Our alumni network in a number of countries in Asia has also been very successful. They’re often very passionate about their Australian links and get their own organisations running – Malaysia is a very good example of this. Australian universities are putting in much more effort in maintaining contact with their alumni groups. The truth is, what countries want are complex relationships – business investment, of course, but also research engagement and cultural ties. Alumni and diaspora can bring all of that. We can do better at engaging them. There isn’t a one-solution model we can offer to New Zealand, it’s more about sharing ideas and innovation. Photo: Ms Jenny McGregor and Asia:NZ Executive Director Dr Richard Grant at the Asia:NZ office in Wellington. “A suggestion was made at the launch that perhaps a minister of a senior political figure can have a portfolio with that responsibility. I think that would certainly help to show at government level how important the diaspora is, and to provide a central point for coherent strategy of engagement.” Increasingly in Australia, Ms McGregor says, businesses recognise the value of diaspora. “We are seeing more and more businesses looking to hire people who speak Asian languages, who have Asian experiences. This is helping to build up the diaspora profile and to value returning expatriates more for the skills and experience they can bring. We are learning how to better tap into diaspora potential; we are doing well, but we need to keep doing it better.” The emphasis businesses place on an Asian skills component in their talent base is fed back into the school system through AEF’s work on promoting learning about Asia in schools. “The Business Alliance for Asia Literacy (BAAL) is a large group of companies and large organisations, who are conveying the message to students, teachers, principals and parent groups, explaining the importance of Asia readiness, and we’re seeing a much greater awareness and enthusiasm for Asian language learning. In March we will release new research on how Asia-ready the Australian workforce is, which we have produced in partnership with a top business body, the Australian Industry Group.” In a similar spirit, the Asia:NZ Business Education Partnership was also set up to bring together businesses and educators to take further steps in ensuring that students, and therefore tomorrow’s workforce, will be skilled enough to make the most of future opportunities the growing Asian region will present. Ms McGregor stressed the need to have influential business people on board to help convey the need for greater commitment by business as well as by government in creating the policies and structures necessary for making the most of Australia’s growing partnerships in Asia. On the note of partnerships, Ms McGregor expressed her great appreciation of the long-standing connections and ongoing knowledge-sharing between Asialink and Asia:NZ. “We’ve learned from you and you have learned from us, we’ve shared ideas and initiatives, and that’s the best in a partnership.”

- by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in February 2011. Photo: Antonia Kokalova-Gray for Asia:NZ.

Urban flights of fancy: Shanghai recreated in new exhibition

Talented Chinese New Zealand artist Kerry Ann Lee returns to Toi Poneke Gallery in her home town with an exhibition of art she developed during her WARE residency in Shanghai and on a subsequent visit to the city during the World Expo in 2010. This will be the first time these works are presented in New Zealand. On show from Thursday 28 April 2011 at Toi Poneke Gallery in Wellington, Da Shi Jie/The Great World: Shanghai Works 2009-2010 will showcase three bodies of work whose aim is to provoke reflections on culture and identity through mixed media representations of fluctuating cityscapes. Electric Warrior is a series of raw wire sculptures highlighting rapid urban development, while Chinese Relatives groups together paper-cut pieces set into recycled window frames, evoking the disappearing old world of Shanghai’s shikumen, or brick terrace houses.

These works were shown at island6 Art Centre and Shanghai Art Museum as a result of her residency in 2010. Da Shi Jie is rounded off by a series of photomontage pieces redolent of science-fiction and past World Expo pavilions. These featured in AM Park, Kerry Ann’s first solo show after her return to Shanghai during the World Expo. It is no surprise that Shanghai inspired these musings on the multifaceted history and evolving identity of big cities and their dwellers. China’s most populous city and home to the highest number of standalone tall buildings in the world, Shanghai was undergoing huge-scale urbanisation in preparation for the expo. Selected as the first New Zealand artist to spend time in China through the Wellington Asia Residency Exchange (WARE), Kerry Ann Lee was taken by the scale and pace of this “great facelift of the city”. “I did a lot of research, maintained journals and took lots of photographs to process my situation and surroundings,” explains Kerry Ann. “I appeared as an insider to Chinese culture – visibly Chinese and of Chinese descent, yet a distinct outsider due to the language barrier and my disconnection from contemporary Chinese culture.” Architecture, language and memory play a vital role in Kerry Ann Lee’s art. The unifying themes of this new exhibition are old versus new traditions played out against a backdrop of demolition and construction, enriched by local Shanghai cultural artifacts, everyday life and a futuristic vision of the Chinese city. Inaugurated in 2008, the Wellington Asia Residency Exchange (WARE) is a programme of mutual artist exchanges between Wellington and Asian arts organisations, supported by Wellington City Council and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. “Kerry Ann Lee has been a great example and catalyst of the sort of cultural connection between New Zealand and Asia that we aim to encourage through our professional development initiatives for artists like the WARE programme,” says Asia:NZ culture director Jennifer King. “She was very prolific during her residency and it has been great to watch her thrive as a result of it. I look forward to seeing the works she produced in China brought home to Wellington.” Da Shi Jie/The Great World: Shanghai Works 2009-2010 opens at Toi Poneke Gallery, 61 Abel Smith St on Thursday 28 April 2011 from 5.30pm and will be on display until 20 May. Come and hear a public talk by the artist at 6.00pm on Thursday 19 May. Titled “Deconstructing Heaven: The Fabrication of Urban Utopias and Realities”, this will be a conversation about cities, their dynamic possibilities and realities, and cultural production in flux in Shanghai and Wellington. The talk will be led by the artist, Kerry Ann Lee, with guest speakers, Sophie Jerram (Curator, Letting Space),  Dr Luo Hui (Lecturer, School of Languages and Cultures and Director of The Confucius Institute) and David Cross (Associate Professor, Massey School of Fine Art). - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in April 2011. Artwork: Ladyface, by Kerry Ann Lee.

Acclaimed Indian food writer Madhur Jaffrey visits New Zealand

The time-pressed gourmets among us, particularly those with a penchant for the delicious spiciness and diversity of Indian cuisines, are in for a treat over the next week as one of the most acclaimed Indian food writers in the world visits New Zealand. Delhi-born, US-based Madhur Jaffrey has had decades of experience researching, compiling and presenting mouthwatering curry recipes in books and on TV shows  in the UK and US. She is renowned for having ingeniously adapted the complexities of Indian cuisines to our fast-paced age. With support from the Asia:NZ culture programme, Madhur Jaffrey is in New Zealand this week to take part in the 2011 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival (AWRF), which began on 11 May. She will also speak at a dinner in her honour in Wellington on 19 May. Ms Jaffrey’s naming had a symbolic, prescient connection to food (her chosen name, “Madhur” means sweet as honey in Sanskrit) and Madhur “was left with honey on my palate and my deepest soul,” as she tells in her 2006 memoir Climbing the Mango Trees, one of over 15 popular books she has authored.

With 175 easy recipes, Ms Jaffrey’s latest bestseller, Curry Easy, is a tantalising culinary journey across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and allows foodies to recreate the tastes of South Asia with a minimum amount of work. “Indian food isn’t always complicated to make, and you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen,” says Madhur Jaffrey. “With just a few very easy steps, you can get a Goan prawn curry or a Sri Lankan beef curry with coconut milk. That is what Curry Easy is going to show you how to do.” At the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival on Friday 13 May, Ms Jaffrey will talk about her fascinating life journey from the banks of the Yamuna River in Delhi to Manhattan. “The innocent Indian honey of my infancy is now mixed with the pungencies of Indian spices, the sour and bitter, the nutty and the tinglingly aromatic,” says Madhur Jaffrey in Climbing the Mango Trees. “We are delighted to have been able to bring culinary legend Madhur Jaffrey to New Zealand,” said Asia:NZ culture director Jennifer King. “The vividness of her life story is suitably complemented by the richness of her recipes – and we’re glad New Zealanders will get a taste of both, through our cooperation with the AWRF in Auckland and the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers in Wellington, which made these events possible.” On Sunday 15 May, Madhur Jaffrey will be the guest presenter at a lunch in her honour at the Langham Hotel in Auckland, where the hotel’s Indian chefs will prepare an authentic Indian feast drawn from her cookbooks. Wellingtonians will also be able to sample Madhur Jaffrey’s recipes and hear her talk at a degustation dinner, organised by the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers, with support from Asia:NZ and the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor. The dinner is at 6pm on 19 May at the James Cook Hotel; tickets are $95 per person for a six-course menu including drinks and pre-dinner snacks. Madhur Jaffrey’s latest cookbook Curry Easy is available online and from bookshops in New Zealand. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand website in May 2011 and republished in Indian Weekender, the foremost print and online news site for the Kiwi Indian community. Photo by Flickr user roland.

What will Chinese power mean for the world?

What will Chinese power mean for the world? Dr Michael Wesley, executive director of the Lowy Institute, treated the audience to an impressive – in scope and perceptivity – speech on China, its role for the Antipodes and the evolving Asian regionalism at a Victoria University public symposium in April 2011. If we in the West feel unready to respond to China’s rise, China itself is certainly unprepared to have so suddenly come to global prominence – and how China reacts to this new responsibility is what may lead to some uncomfortable choices for all to make. Looking to imperial China for a blueprint of what may motivate modern China’s actions would be a mistake. As the only great power in history to have been a global power in the past, modern China is struggling with a dichotomy: an ingrained emphasis on global state hierarchy and a keen sense of past injustices inflicted by what China sees as a hostile world order are in discordance with a present reality in which China finds itself no longer a self-contained society, relying more and more heavily on the world’s resources. China acknowledges the current world order is good for its growth, but it is “viscerally unhappy with this order.” As all great powers before it, China finds itself in a “great power trap”: the more power it acquires, the more vulnerable it begins to feel, which in turn leads it to desire even more power and supremacy. This will lead to a “growing divergence of security commitments and economic partnerships” for many countries in the Asian region. Dr Wesley argues we are seeing not a transformation of the Asia-Pacific but an emergence of a new, Indo-Pacific peninsula. This is a result of what he sees is the new pyramid pattern of power in Asia: with China at the top, surrounded by secondary powers – Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India – with whom China has traditional rivalries but who are significant enough to be able to counterbalance its power by relying on other allies like the US. The secondary powers are in turn surrounded by tertiary powers, whether in South or Southeast Asia, who are reaching out to China or the US to protect their own interests. This complex structure of strategic alignments and competition is bringing the epicentre of Asian interaction to Southeast Asia and therefore, closer to Australia and New Zealand. “Australia and New Zealand need to realise that geopolitically, if not yet emotionally, they are an integral part of the Indo-Pacific peninsula,” said Dr Wesley. “Our choices will matter – and they will have real consequences for both countries. We’d better start getting prepared.” The public symposium on New Zealand, Australia and China's rise was co-organised by the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand and the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University Wellington, with co-sponsors the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University, the Australian Centre on China in the World and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Dr Michael Wesley was in New Zealand during the first week of April as a guest of Asia:NZ and spoke at a number of other high-profile forums including a PricewaterhouseCoopers business leaders gathering, an Asia:NZ research roundtable on Asian business graduates, the Asia:NZ Educating for Asia Summit, the Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum and the New Zealand Principals' Federation conference. "There goes the neighbourhood", a book by Dr Wesley  on the significance of Southeast Asia to Australia, comes out in May 2011. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in April 2011.

A journey, not a destination: the Antipodes and China’s rise

China’s ascendance on the global stage is hardly a matter of contention anymore. But the multiple economic, strategic, security and socio-political implications of this ascendance for the Asian region as a whole, and for Australia and New Zealand in particular, are subject to ongoing debate. And the strategies with which our countries are to address those implications are far from clear or universally agreed. A prolific debate on this momentous topic brought together some of the most influential Asia scholars along with government officials, and public and private sector experts from both sides of the Tasman to discuss the emerging strategic, diplomatic, domestic and foreign policy priorities for our two countries and for the region.

One of these experts was Dr Michael Wesley, Lowy Institute executive director, who was in New Zealand in early April 2011 as a guest of Asia:NZ.

The strategic dimension Exploring the strategic significance of China’s rise for Australia and New Zealand, ANU head of Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Professor Hugh White, talked about the “stark new choices and unsettling options” ahead. “The way in which we make those choices will redefine the strategic relationship between Australia and New Zealand,” he said. The re-convergence of productivity levels we are witnessing means that once again the size of a country’s population will determine its economic and strategic weight. Add to that the decline in Western naval supremacy, and, in Professor White’s view, uncontested US primacy is unlikely to continue. If such primacy indeed remained a US goal, then a contest would definitely occur. Australian and New Zealand security strategy, therefore, should be tailored to avoid a primacy contest that would compel us to choose between the US and China. “To what extent are we prepared to accommodate China in order to avoid a contest of primacy, without raising fears of appeasement?” The US should be encouraged to treat China as an equal and be prepared to share power and space with it fast. Even though it sees itself as a middle power, Australia may not be able to rise to the challenge of functioning like one and would therefore need New Zealand in order to strengthen its own strategic weight. In a more contested Asia, despite traditionally different strategic perceptions, Australia and New Zealand may find they need each other to make the right decisions.” Coming from a policy rather than academic perspective, Defence Secretary John McKinnon put current strategic challenges in the context of what increased military spending in Asia might mean for New Zealand and stressed the benefits of evolving interaction between military forces through regional dialogue. China’s defence budget is now second only to that of the US. Capability build-up, combined with a strong traditional emphasis on national sovereignty and national security in Asia, can lead to more tensions. Our two countries’ defence papers, published within a year of each other, offer a glimpse of the ways in which Australia and New Zealand perceive regional tensions and plan to deal with them. While strategic threats borne out of national tensions in the region may not loom as large on New Zealand’s horizon as on Australia’s, neither country can deny that its security will very much depend on that of the region as a whole. Regional dialogue is important for Asia-Pacific stability. One example is our participation in the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus – the first formal gathering of which was in Hanoi in October 2010 – which gives an opportunity for a conversation between heads of defence forces with little past contact with each other. It is through such regional dialogues that a country the size of New Zealand can hope to make worthwhile contributions.

Photo: (L to R) Dr Michael Wesley, Executive Director, Lowy Institute for International Policy; Professor Robert Ayson, Director, Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand; Professor Hugh White, Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University; Dr Marc Lanteigne, Senior Lecturer, New Zealand China Contemporary Research Centre; Dr Richard Grant, Executive Director of Asia:NZ and Professor Xiaoming Huang, Director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre.

Professor Robert Ayson put forward the suggestion that Australia might have more to lose from a changing balance of power in favour of China than New Zealand. Quoting from both the Australian and New Zealand Defence White Papers, Professor Ayson argued that there is a gap in Australian and New Zealand perceptions of China in a security sense. While both our countries depend on Chinese economic growth for our future prosperity, considerations of economic survival are right at the top in New Zealand, while in Australia economic and security concerns are more balanced - potentially giving rise to a difficult partnership preference over the US or China if circumstances ever were to dictate that one be made. In the New Zealand White Paper, there is an emphasis on traditional relationships with the US, the Commonwealth partners among which, in Asia, Malaysia and Singapore, and how relationships with these “like-minded” states can help reinforce shared international norms.

Domestic views and interests This session was a look at the public and private views and interests that form the domestic context in which Australia and New Zealand formulate their respective response to the rise of China. Asia:NZ executive director Dr Richard Grant used the foundation’s research on New Zealand’s population to show how China and Asia are an intrinsic part of our evolving national identity. Chinese people have been part of New Zealand society since the 1860s gold rush. In the three decades since the foundation’s inception in 1994, the proportion of New Zealanders of Asian ethnicity is projected to grow from three to 16 percent. Importantly, the bulk of the Asian segment of New Zealand’s population is now made not of migrants, but New Zealand-born citizens of this country. These numbers, amplified by the youthfulness of Asian New Zealanders compared to other population groups, give a sense of urgency to the need for New Zealand to engage more actively and more competently with Asia. Highlights and full results of the 2010 Perceptions of Asia Tracking Study are published by Asia:NZ next week but Dr Grant revealed that compared to the US and fellow Commonwealth countries, New Zealanders displayed the warmest attitude to China and recognised the importance of Asia, even though the recent recession and economic hardship have led, somewhat disappointingly, to them attributing a lesser importance to the outer world. A 2010 Pew Global Attitudes Survey found nearly half of Americans had a favourable view of China, slightly higher than Canada where the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada conducts a similar national poll every two years. While Americans perceive the economic rise of China as a greater threat to their country, the view in Canada is the reverse – 58 percent are wary of China’s rising military capability. The view from across the Tasman is similar, says Fergus Hanson, the Lowy Institute’s director of polling. There is an evolution in AU attitudes to China, moving from the perception of China as a huge and benign country hungry for Australia’s rich natural resources to a significant global power willing to “throw its weight around.” Australia now faces a dilemma: China is acknowledged by a large majority of Australians as a necessary and positive force in Australia’s future prosperity, but is perceived as a threat on the strategic security front. The ambivalence about Chinese foreign investment into Australia – which came to a head during the contentious and ultimately unsuccessful Chinalco bid for Rio Tinto in 2009 – is a clear illustration of the apprehension with which Australia now regards China. The public symposium on New Zealand, Australia and China's rise was co-organised by the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand and the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre at Victoria University Wellington, with co-sponsors the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University, the Australian Centre on China in the World and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. It was officially opened by the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Hon Murray McCully - read the full text of his speech. Dr Michael Wesley was in New Zealand as a guest of Asia:NZ. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray. This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in April 2011. Photo credit: Lance Lawson for Asia:NZ.

The life of kings

‘… as I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings.’ – H.L. Mencken

In 40 years, New Zealand journalist John McBeth amassed a wealth of experiences and stories from his extensive career as a journalist in Asia. In Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Manila and Jakarta, he saw wars, coups and revolutions, met tyrants, drug smugglers and bombers, all the while witnessing the gradual fading of print journalism from its glory days.

His new book Reporter: Forty Years Covering Asia is above all a tribute to the halcyon days of print journalism and to the richness of news stories uncovered in Asia in the last three decades of the 20th century.

Part memoir, part historical analysis, part story-telling, Reporter is also a tale about the foreign journalists who went to Asia and ended up staying during a time of huge change and upheaval.

"While this book may necessarily be a memoir," writes McBeth in his opening chapter, "I would like to think it is more a reflection of the lives of a generation of journalists who came to Asia on a wing and a prayer – and in my case by ship – and stayed on as fascinated witnesses to a region going through historic political and economic change. We all have a story to tell. We have also had a lot of great times that will never be repeated."

John McBeth is a well known figure in Asian journalism, particularly in Southeast Asia. He was on his way from New Zealand to London when a chance stopover in Jakarta took longer than intended. He began his journalistic career at The Bangkok Post in the early 1970s.

“There was a time, certainly in Vietnam in the 1960s and in Bangkok in the 1970s and early 1980s, when the press corps was a unique institution, where lifelong friendships were forged and what we did was both interesting and full of enterprise and adventure.”

During a time of rapid expansion John McBeth joined the Far Eastern Economic Review, formerly the region’s most prestigious English-language economic affairs newspaper. He became the publication’s longest serving correspondent, heading bureaux in Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia. After the Review converted to a monthly in 2004, soon to fold altogether, John McBeth returned to freelancing, mainly as a columnist for The Straits Times in Singapore. 

Reporter is a fascinating and truthful book by one of the last of a generation of foreign journalists who made Asia their home and their news beat. 

Reporter: Forty Years Covering Asia was launched by John McBeth at the Asia:NZ office on 15 March 2011, in the presence of Minister Tim Groser, Asia:NZ executive director Dr Richard Grant, diplomats, journalists and Asia:NZ staff. Reporter is printed in Singapore and published by Singapore-based Talisman Publishing.

“I do not have any regrets,” said McBeth in his launch speech. “I am glad I had the privilege, in all these years, to witness the extraordinary development of Asia.”

This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in March 2011.

Brian Brake: a photographer’s love for Asia

Brian Brake’s short stopover in Singapore in 1951 led to a lifelong love affair with photographing the people and sights of Asia.

The famous New Zealand photographer travelled the world on assignments from the legendary Magnum agency at a time when air travel was reserved for the privileged few.

Asia always featured prominently in his work as he became Magnum’s correspondent in the region.

Later, based in Hong Kong from 1962 to 1976, Brake continued to document daily life there and took photos in several Southeast Asian countries as well.

He left behind an impressive collection of about 115,000 images, which his long-time partner and assistant, Aman Lau, recently donated to Te Papa Museum.

Photography curator Athol McCredie drew on this valuable store of famous and lesser known photos for what is so far the largest exhibition of Brian Brake’s work currently on at Te Papa.

Some of Brake’s work has already been the subject of three main exhibitions: a Dowse exhibition he put together himself in 1976, and two posthumous Te Papa exhibitions in the 1990s.

However, Lens on the World is an unprecedented chance to see highlights of his work in chronological order, and get a flavour of the photographic craft he excelled at. Te Papa has included an original way to display contact sheets marked with Brake’s own selection notes. Curator Athol McCredie has achieved a good balance between commercially famous photos, and those that remained outside the public focus of editors but represent a good record of the photographer’s lifetime and travels.

About one third of the images on display at the exhibition were taken by Brake in Asia – including his famous Monsoon series shot in India and coverage of Maoist China in the 1950s. Photos from Asia make an even larger part of his collection which Te Papa is making available online.

What attracted Brake to Asia in the first place was the hustle and bustle of everyday streets – something quite different from the staid Western environment he had witnessed in New Zealand and Europe. “I was more comfortable in Asian situations than European,” said Brake. “There wasn’t the language barrier. In Asia they don’t put you down if you don’t understand the language.”

China

In the early years of the Cold War, with help from Magnum founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brake became one of very few foreign photographers permitted to take photos by the Chinese authorities.

He spent three months in China in 1957, and later enjoyed unprecedented access as the only independent Western photographer allowed in to document the 10th anniversary of the Communist republic in 1959.

The spectacle of official Tiananmen Square parades was what magazine editors went for. “American audiences would have been thrilled, [seeing the photos] with a mixture of fear,awe and fascination,” says Athol McCredie.

But Brake also took lots and lots of black and white photos of ordinary people in many common aspects of Chinese life.

“Those photographs were never really published, explains McCredie. “Why was it? Were they not spectacular enough, or were people not genuinely interested in China?” Te Papa dedicated an exhibition and a catalogue to Brian Brake’s China work in 1995. The current exhibition showcases some photos from the period.

“Personally I think his Chinese work is among his strongest photography,” says Athol McCredie. “One of the hardest decisions to make was to cut it down to just 10 or 15 images for the exhibition.” A lot more, however, can be seen in the new online collection.

What is really interesting about Brake’s Chinese work, McCredie believes, is that Brake’s insight into 1950s China was unique not only for a Westerner but for a Chinese person, too. It seems not many Chinese photographers at the time documented life away from the sanctioned official view of it.

India

Monsoon is Brake’s best known photographic essay, first published in Life magazine in 1960.

Monsoon struck a chord with audiences around the world, explains McCredie. “While it wasn’t thoroughly groundbreaking, it was unusual enough to catch people’s notice. The fact it was published entirely in colour was also unusual for 1961. Monsoon was purely a picture essay, a story without words on a grand theme, the cycle of life and death in India.”

Monsoon encapsulated and gave great exposure to Indian culture in New Zealand, America and parts of Europe at a time when people there still knew little about the South Asian country. Years later, when Rajiv Gandhi visited New Zealand in 1987, it was a portfolio of the Monsoon photo-essay he received as a gift from then prime minister David Lange – quite a radical step which Gandhi greatly appreciated, remembers McCredie.

Photographer on the road

Brian Brake was one of many who photographed the Dalai Lama arriving into exile in India – his photo became the Life magazine cover which was a big achievement at the time.

In the 1960s, Japan and Hong Kong became subjects of Brake’s ever popular colour photo-essays for publishers like Life magazine and Time-Life books.

As a film-maker himself, Brake took many photos showing the evolution of the Asian film industry. At Te Papa you can see his photos of Akira Kurosawa on set in the Japanese series, and some remarkable colour photos from 1950s Chinese film sets.

“Brake’s photographs can work in two ways – it’s an historical document, you can look back on some aspects of world history, but you’re also looking into other places like Asia,” says Athol McCredie.” New Zealanders are, of course, more familiar with Asia now than they were when Brake photographed it, but these photos are still exotic in many ways.” In other words, it is now time rather than geographical novelty that allows us to see Asia in a new light.

Brian Brake: Lens on the World opened at Te Papa in October 2010 and will be on show until May 2011. The exhibition has so far been incredibly popular with the public, says Athol McCredie. “I’ve never seen this many people in our level 5 galleries.” He is hopeful that parts of Brake’s collection held by Te Papa could also be shown in Asia, for instance China where there has been renewed interest in Brake’s Chinese work.

The exhibition will tour other centres in New Zealand, starting with Christchurch in September 2011. - by Antonia Kokalova-Gray

This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in November 2010. All images © Brian Brake Estate/Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Eat Your Cake: a Vietnamese tale

Originally conceived and painstakingly crafted, Sally Tran's short film is one of several New Zealand debuts at the 2010 NZ International Film Festival and was made with support from Asia:NZ's arts programme.

“Don’t ever forget who you are or how lucky you are to be here in this country.” Sally Tran’s short film Eat Your Cake; I’m a Vietnamese Refugee ends on this poignant note as it tells the true story of a Vietnamese New Zealander who fled imprisonment in his home country as a young boy. The film was shown across New Zealand as part of the 2010 NZ International Film Festival.

The film’s subject, Mitchell Pham, now a well known businessman in New Zealand, escaped Vietnam at a third attempt and survived a testing time living as a refugee, before being resettled in New Zealand. Sally Tran’s inspiration was to recreate Mitchell’s story using the traditional craft of Vietnamese paper-folding.

“My mother once brought me this beautiful lamp from Vietnam: it was made using this exquisite paper-folding technique that I thought was just so amazing,” Sally recalled. “After a bit of research into it, I found out it was a technique that Vietnamese crafts people use. This inspired me to create a project based on a fascinating and unique animation style.”

The film uses an incredible 10,000 pieces of paper all folded by Sally and her group of 20 volunteers during six-hour folding sessions every Sunday over six months.

“Just one of the soldiers would require 250 pieces, and [in the film] we had six army men – it didn't happen overnight.  It was a really time-consuming process,” Sally explained. The creation of the props was led by origami art director Wendy Wang.

But the work didn’t stop at paper-folding. Once the props were ready, the sets had to be constructed and captured in stop-motion animation in front of a blue or green screen. It took Sally a whole month to capture the elements on her own, before sending the storyboard and shot list to the animation team to do the animation sequence.

For the story, Sally interviewed Mitchell Pham during three three-hourly sessions. There were a lot of difficult memories to include and Sally wanted to get an accurate feel for Mitchell’s experience as a refugee fleeing post-war Vietnam and coming to New Zealand, before she could edit the script down to only 12 minutes.

The animation sequences do most of the story-telling; native Vietnamese actors voice many of the characters, something which adds a layer of realism to the flashbacks. There is a moving family farewell to the young boy who realises he’s about to finally abandon his home.

Sally’s main intended audience for her short film is young people and secondary school students. She wants them to get drawn into the story and come out having learned a little about refugees and the struggle that they go through. “We wanted to make sure [the story] was easy to digest and unique compared to what is screened at school or on television.” Sally is currently researching ways to screen her short film to school audiences in New Zealand and to film festival audiences overseas.

The project was made on a tight budget, with support from Creative New Zealand and Asia:NZ’s arts programme. Sally says it was a great learning experience,  fusing documentary storytelling with stop-motion animation to tell a unique and inspirational story.

- by Antonia Kokalova-Gray

This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in July 2010.

Charting an unknown land

New Zealand artists Ana Terry and Don Hunter found navigating Beijing on foot or by bike to be much more challenging than they had first expected during their recent artists’ residency in the Chinese capital.

The pair, also known as Number 8 Collective, were there to draw inspiration for their art from the city that had become their temporary home while on placement at the Platform China gallery in Cao Changdi village.

The constant noise of construction, a skyline of cranes and throngs of people in Beijing’s busy streets were testament to the unrelenting urbanisation China is currently experiencing.

Mynah

Coming into contact with  other expatriate artists running the BASE project, Ana and Don had the opportunity to explore the rapid city growth in China through conversations with architects, artists and engineers. During a group field trip to villages north of the Great Wall the artists found a source of raw material and historical context for their  themes.

Ana and Don called their exhibition Mynah – using the metaphor of the mynah bird to illustrate our tendency as humans to expand our territory at an often predatory rate.

“The mynah bird’s sharp eye seeks and covets shiny objects as it steals other birds’ nests leaving its victims displaced,” declared the artists in their exhibition statement. “As with the audiences who visit the galleries, we are complicit in this process – it is a given that artists, while commentators of these issues, are not exempt from the cycle of consumption and production.”

Making art in the Middle Kingdom

Travelling around the Chinese countryside gave Ana and Don the opportunity to think of charting a territory as an art.

 “As visitors we rely on maps to navigate and comprehend a foreign territory,” says Ana. As itinerant artists, they decided to do what early cartographers did – use sketches to record the places visited. Except the artists decided to make use of the Etch-a-sketch – a drawing toy now made in China, the manufacturing of which they also researched.

After they took photos of the etchings, Ana and Don then erased them. The digital photos, arranged in a brick wall pattern as a reference to the Great Wall, will form the final installation. Called Navigating the Middle Kingdom, it is scheduled for exhibition at the Green Bench space in Whanganui in 2011.

At a visit to a gallery across the road from Platform China, Ana and Don saw photos of emerging and established Chinese artists showcased by the Three Shadows Photography Award 2010. The New Zealanders liked the work so much they decided to approach the gallery to organise a tour of the photo exhibition to New Zealand. Work is underway to find gallery space here for a tour planned in 2011/12.

The concept for Indigo Blues, a video and sculpture installation, was also born during Ana and Don’s prolific two months in Beijing. This was the result of observing the daily routines of people in and around galleries within the 798 District, the arts area inside Cao Changdi village.

“A clock-work exists in the District,” explain Ana and Don. “Every day around 4pm cleaners emerge in the galleries and start their long rounds of mopping the gallery floors, pausing occasionally to gaze at art works…” Number 8 Collective decided to document this unseen aspect of the arts world around them. They filmed galleries from a floor level perspective and slightly out of focus. The indigo overtone of the images, reminiscent of the “surging sea of denim blue” of the workers at dusk, gave them the project title. Indigo Blues will open at the Blue Oyster Art Project Space in Dunedin on the 19 April 2011.

“The residency gave us an exceptional experience of urban China and China’s growing artistic environment,” Don and Ana said. They feel the residency has expanded their practice as an arts collective and has connected them with a wider community of artists beyond New Zealand.

The Platform China residency is supported by Asia:NZ and Creative New Zealand. Ana Terry and Don Hunter were the inaugural residents in May 2010.

by Antonia Kokalova-Gray

This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in September 2010.

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." - S. Kierkegaard

Know Your Neighbours: cultural awareness at school

A new teaching resource for educators and students in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand that aims to develop mutual cultural awareness has been getting plenty of positive feedback.

The result of two years’ work, Know Your Neighbours is a digital and hardcopy learning kit for teenagers living in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) commissioned Educating NZ to develop the resource as a way to enhance mutual understanding between New Zealand and the countries of Southeast Asia.

The key to producing a lively resource rather than a dry collection of facts was to source firsthand impressions from the students themselves. Teenagers were interviewed in New Zealand and Australia, as well as across Southeast Asia. Their comments are widely used in the resource as a way to highlight the shared experiences of adolescents in the region.

“It was interesting that when interviewed, the students often identified a lot of commonalities, they often spoke about the same thing,” says MFAT policy officer Alex Lennox-Marwick who worked on the project. “And a lot of cross-cultural education research suggests that it is much more effective to concentrate on everyday topics.”

Know Your Neighbours concentrates on eight aspects of everyday life – food, clothing, housing, transport, buildings & public spaces, pastimes, celebrations & rituals, and arts, crafts & artefacts.

How does this resource stand out? Usually, Alex Lennox-Marwick explains, similar resources are focused solely on Southeast Asia; the addition of New Zealand and Australia to the mix has created a point of difference.

Interest in the resource has been building bilaterally, through the New Zealand missions approaching education institutions in respective countries, as well as regionally, on the sidelines of high-profile events such as the East Asia Summit (which in 2007 gave the impetus for projects of this kind).

Know Your Neighbours has also grabbed the attention of educators in Southeast Asian countries.  Enquiries have come from the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), whose education and innovation centre in Manila (INNOTECH) is currently working on developing an online teacher toolkit to help educators in Southeast Asia to promote an understanding of Southeast Asia and an “ASEAN identity” in their classrooms.  MFAT and Educating NZ have presented the Know Your Neighbours resource to key SEAMEO stakeholders and INNOTECH will be using Know Your Neighbours as the backbone to their online teacher toolkit.

Ms Lennox-Marwick says the project will bolster the positive profile New Zealand enjoys in ASEAN and is a good opportunity to showcase the New Zealand style of teaching. Teaching styles in Southeast Asia can be quite different; the New Zealand style includes a greater degree of teamwork and problem-solving activities – a way of teaching that Southeast Asian countries are increasingly keen to adopt.

The resource is widely applicable as it does not cater to a specific curriculum – it can be easily refashioned to fit in with specific curriculum requirements.

The Know Your Neighbours project draws on research commissioned from respected academics including Dr Abdullah Saeed from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. The New Zealand Ministry of Education and the Asia New Zealand Foundation were also involved in the development of the project,

So how will the resource be used in all the different countries of the region? Each Know Your Neighbours ring-binder includes a CD-ROM with templates which allow material to be translated into local languages and adapted to a specific curriculum, all the while retaining the design format. There is potential for the resource to be used in ESOL teaching as well.

In addition to interviews with students, Know Your Neighbours includes factsheets, posters, picture packs and a CD-ROM with digital versions of all material. The goal is to get kids talking in the classroom, thinking about and discussing each key topic. A list of activities accompanies the factsheets, so that students can follow up and gain a better understanding of each topic. The resource book can be downloaded from the Educating NZ website.

- by Antonia Kokalova-Gray

This piece was first published on the Asia New Zealand Foundation website in August 2010.