April 15, 2008
No. 88
The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced the appointment of Robert Bedeski to the Board of Directors of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
"I am pleased to welcome Mr. Bedeski to the Foundation's board," said Minister Bernier. "He has extensive experience in Asian issues, and is a renowned author and lecturer on topics related to Asian politics and international relations."
The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is an independent, not-for-profit think tank focused on Canada's relations with Asia. The Foundation functions as a knowledge broker, bringing together people and knowledge to provide the most current and comprehensive research, analysis and information on Canada's trans-Pacific relations. It promotes dialogue on economic, security, political and social issues, helping to influence public policy and foster informed decision making in Canadian public, private and non-governmental sectors.
Created in 1984 by an act of Parliament, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is funded by the governments of Canada and British Columbia.
For further information on the Foundation, please visit their Internet site at www.asiapacific.ca.
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A biographical note on the appointee follows.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874
www.international.gc.ca/index.aspx
Melina Czerwinski
Communications Coordinator
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
604-630-1540
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Robert E. Bedeski is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, and Program Professor Emeritus for Human Security and Peace in the Asia-Pacific Region at the University's Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives. He is also Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia's Institute of Asian Research.
He is a renowned author and lecturer on various topics related to Asian politics and international relations, such as human security in Asia, Chinese international migration, arms control and verification on the Korean peninsula, Mongolian foreign policy, and small arms proliferation in Asia.
He has co-organized the annual Canada-Korea North Pacific Arms Control Workshop sponsored by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. He served as President of the Japan Studies Association of Canada in 1995, and was Co-Chair of the Canadian Consortium on Asia Pacific Security, for which he also chaired the Maritime Security Working Group. He also served as Co-Chair of the North Pacific Working Group of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific.
Mr. Bedeski received both his MA in Asian Studies and his PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first non-Japanese research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo in 1980–81.
