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After the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Communist Party of China sought to break all ties between the Church in China and Western powers. Since 1957, there have been two distinct Catholic groups within the PRC: the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, and the underground church loyal to the Vatican. This may be about to change, however, as in September 2018, the Vatican and the PRC signed a new provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops, which could lead to efforts towards reunification of the Catholic Church in China after more than sixty years of division. This paper introduces the changing position of the popes with respect to the PRC. The article argues that the new agreement should not be considered an initiative solely of Pope Francis, but rather the result of numerous changes within the Vatican instigated during the papacy of Pope John XXIII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the key concerns of a joint/combined ROK-U.S. military operation in the case of a necessary contingency in North Korea. As such, it focuses on the necessary military issues, some of the likely scenarios where these issues would arise (there are simply too many to address them all in this paper), and the likely political factors in South Korea, the United States, and the international community that would be at play during this time period. China is likely to be the "elephant in the room," though diplomacy with Beijing will be key and the Chinese are unlikely to agree to anything unless it is very clear to the world that North Korea is obviously in the throes of collapse, civil war, or complete anarchy. Any contingency operation into North Korea will be a very large, very expensive operation. South Korea simply does not have all of the resources or the military capabilities to carry out such an operation on its own--but it should lead any effort to intervene in North Korea because ultimately this is a Korea issue. A variety of factors, particularly the instability of the government, are likely to ultimately bring about a catastrophe in the DPRK. When this happens, a unified Korea, under a transparent democracy with its capital in Seoul, is the only viable option for the Korean people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years after diplomatic normalization in 1992, Korea-China relations have become more interdependent, complex, and conflict-ridden. In spite of ever-growing economic interactions, South Korea now views China as a source of concern with respect to its economy and security. The China-South Korean history controversy and the disillusionment in the midst of the Cheonan sinking and the Yeonpyeong Island shelling further contributed to the rise of such concern. As the interactions grow in the future, South Korea and China will face challenges in seven areas: trade/commercial frictions, historical disputes, clashes of values and norms, North Korea's nuclear weapons, the Korea-US alliance, territorial disputes, and Korean re- unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the problem of reunification between the PRC and Taiwan in the last decade, as part of two milestones: first, the enactment of the Anti-Secession Law of March 14, 2005; and second, the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on 30 June 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent time, the need for an East Asian perspective is being increasingly discussed in the Taiwanese intellectual community. A noteworthy attempt is a special feature entitled 'Overcoming the Division System' published in the June 2009 issue of Taiwan: A Radical Quarterly in Social Studies. In this feature, Paik Nak-chung's 'division system theory' is used as a reference to the cross-strait issue. However, the 'division system discourse' as a reference framework leads to a difficulty because it involves national unification, one of the most sensitive issues in Taiwan. Indeed, we encounter a serious dilemma: the dichotomous structure of the People's Republic of China versus Taiwan has to be overcome to ensure that the cross-strait discussion does not degenerate into a dispute on nationalism, while it is impossible to hold a productive discussion unless Taiwan's relation to China is dealt with. Facing this dilemma, Chen Kuan-Hsing focuses on Paik's concept of a 'nation', which could transcend nationalism owing to its orientation toward democracy, third-world solidarity, and anti-capitalism. Capturing this concept, he proposes 'Chinese as a post-nation' in order to overcome the cross-strait system. However, it is questionable how the 'Chinese' would ensure people-orientation that resists a nation-state and maintains solidarity with East Asia. The concept of the 'Chinese' may be effective in deconstructing the ideological identity of Taiwan, but it is vulnerable to the dilemma of being identified as another 'super-identity'. Taiwanese nationalism should be overcome immediately. However, for the ultimate solution to the cross-strait dilemma, it is an important task to develop the capacity of a civil society in both Taiwan and mainland China. These efforts are closely related to achieving regional peace across East Asia. Therefore, the cross-strait issue is a burden that has to be shouldered not only by Taiwan but also by East Asia as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the condition of the motion picture industry in Hong Kong, China since 1997. It offers a historical account on the condition of the motion picture industry in 1980s wherein internationally high-profile films have managed to combine both quality and commercial success. It mentions several creative personnel in the industry who were attracted to work in the U.S. such as Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and Jet Li. Moreover, the factors behind the bleak perspectives on the country's motion picture industry such as the government's mishandling of the health crises, inadequate management of the economic depression, and political blunders.

The article discusses the negative impact of conflicting regionalism strategies for Northeast Asian security, focusing on China, Korea and Japan. These effects were evident during the early phases of the Six-Party talks, particularly when Seoul decided to speed up inter-Korean integration. Korea's efforts caused unfavorable effects on other reunification efforts in the region, especially with Tokyo's abduction priority as well as Beijing and Washington's efforts to bridge their distance.

• The decision to migrate through China was difficult but necessary. • NK children feel abandonment and resentment to mothers after the separation. • Even after reunification, NK mothers face a weakened parent-child bond. • NK children experience school maladaptation but mothers cannot help appropriately. • Community support and social services are necessary for NKRs' adaptation in SK. Women from North Korea (NK) face a perilous journey when they illegally defect to China, and then get married and have children to protect themselves from deportations back to NK and torture, on the path towards resettling in South Korea (SK) with their Chinese-Korean children. The socio-historical relationship among North and South Korea and China requires these women to travel clandestinely and make undesired choices, one of which is temporarily to leave their Chinese-Korean children in order to establish residences in South Korea. This collective case study presents the experiences of the five NK refugee mothers and five of their children born in China. Through individual interviews the women expressed that they made the best decisions possible given the challenges of mothering as a North Korean refugee, but they also expressed feeling of inadequacy as mothers in SK. Both mothers and children expressed challenges in their relationship upon reunification in SK. Mothers were forced to work long hours while children struggled with feelings of abandonment and trauma. Both mothers and children recognized that improving their lives required them to continuously re-adjust to their changing circumstances. Implications for social work services and policies are discussed to assist these women not only with adjustment to a new culture, but also to address their children's well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]